


The Cycle of Fear

by IWillScreamIntoTheAbyss



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Keith (Voltron), Female pronouns for Pidge, Galra Keith (Voltron), Mentions of Rape, Minor Character Death, but the whole gangs gonna be there, happy times for everybody, ive cried writing this lmao, lots of people die, mentions of torture, the chapters just keep getting longer, theres some swearing, well its technically just keith in the first chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-07-27 15:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 60,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7623925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWillScreamIntoTheAbyss/pseuds/IWillScreamIntoTheAbyss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith was born and raised a Galra. No one questioned the markings under his eyes and what they could mean until it all came crashing down. Now, he has no choice but to run. He finds his way to a ship, where he barely escapes with his life- and with the Red Lion of Voltron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Escape

**Author's Note:**

> So this is based of an idea i saw on tumblr awhile back, though I can't remember who posted it.

It was happening tonight. Keithak (Keith, for short, he hated it when people called him by his full name) had known for a long time that he’d have to leave, but it was tonight. Some Alteans had been discovered as spies the day before, making everyone suspicious of anyone who might have even a drop of Altean blood. Keith’s mother had been a pure-blooded Altean (such a rare thing these days), so he had to leave.

He looked like a Galra, but that didn't mean much. There was a common saying among Galrans that anyone with galran blood, even if it was just a drop, was Galra. To Keith, that had been a blessing, despite the little Alteans marks under his eyes. Though now, the altean blood in his veins would be his downfall.

He had no one to say goodbye to except for his father, who was the one encouraging him to leave. He had supplied his son with a month’s worth of rations and a suit of armour that doubled as a space suit, just in case. He’d also given him family portraits, but Keith knew that it was more to protect himself than to protect his son. Anyone discovered with ties to Alteans would immediately be executed, after all.

Keith left under the cover of darkness, knowing he would likely never see the place he’d called home ever again. Though this place was more of a home away from home.

He headed to a nearby supply station. He was a good pilot and knew how to pilot every ship the empire could throw at him, but he knew he’d be shot down before he made it out of the atmosphere. His best bet was to stow away on a ship and hope he wasn’t found. 

The ship that was being supplied when he arrived at the station was a cargo ship. It was more guarded that it should be. He briefly considered waiting for the next one to come by, but something was screaming at him that he had to get on that ship. He snuck onto the ship and hid.

He was found about an hour after the ship had left the station. He fought and ran. He knew the layout of the ship: all cargo ships were the same. He headed for the hangar, hoping he could get a fighter jet and be able to evade fire long enough to… well, he wasn’t sure what he’d do after that.

At the hangar, he saw that there were no fighter jets, but that there was some sort of red cat ship surrounded by a red barrier. That ship was only chance to get out of here alive. There was no way to shut down the forcefield, and the ship seemed to be staring at him. He didn’t have much time to think about it since the soldiers were here and they had no intention to let him leave this place alive. He had no choice but to fight.

All he had to defend himself himself was his knife, but he was good with it. He was small by Galra standards, but he knew how to take down people that were much bigger than him. His father had made sure of that. There were too many for him to handle, however. In the corner of his eye, he saw the control panel for the airlock. He’d always been known for being impulsive, so he did what was probably the most impulsive and stupid thing he’d ever done. He pressed the airlock button.

The airlock opened and Keith hung on to the panel to stop himself from being sucked away. He tried to close it, but it was stuck in the open position. Keith stared at the cat ship and it stared back. Keith lost his grip and was flung out into space.

Before he could even realise that he was probably going to die, the cat ship (a lion, he somehow knew, it was a lion) came flying straight for him. It opened its jaw and closed it around Keith.

The next thing he knew, he was on a chair and was being pushed toward the control panel of the lion. It was similar enough to Galra tech that he knew what he was doing, but there were enough differences for him to know this wasn’t galra. Something inside him told him that this was an Altean ship. 

He was pulled back from his reverie by incoming lasers. He dodged them, the lion responding perfectly. He attacked the ship, using his own lasers and claws. When he deemed it damaged enough, he retreated. The lion opened a wormhole and, with nowhere else to go, he went through it.

Keith drifted. His only goal was to survive, so all he had to do was to stay away from areas with galra influence, which, unfortunately, was almost everywhere. All he wanted was to find a place where he was safe and no one would take his freedom. He knew a place like that, but he had no idea where it was.

After a few days of drifting, there was a ping on his radar. It wasn’t a distress signal. He’d never seen a signal quite like it. It had appeared suddenly, so if it was a ship, it had just gone through a wormhole. That alone made him wary. As far as he knew, Galra ships were the only ships who were able to open wormholes.

It also made him wary because he’d stolen this ship from the Empire. There were very likely people that were looking for him. He sped away from it, hoping he hadn’t been close enough to appear on their radar.


	2. Retreat

“What about the Red Lion?” Lance asked. “We need it to form Voltron and get Shiro’s lion.”

“The Red Lion is not on the radar and even if it was, we have no paladin to pilot it,” Allura replied. “It is temperamental and requires a pilot who relies more on instinct than skill alone.”

“So until we find it and a pilot, there’s nothing we can do,” Shiro said. 

Allura nodded. “Our first priority is to find the lion and a suitable pilot.”

“Why wouldn’t the radar be able to pick up the lion’s signature?” Pidge asked. “It found all of the other ones without any problems, so why not the red lion?”

“The lion is likely out of range of the castle's sensors, while it covers most of the known universe, it doesn’t cover all of it. The other option is that the lion has been destroyed, but I refuse to believe that. Voltron is the universe’s only hope.”

“We’ll find it,” Shiro declared. 

Alarms started blaring in the control room. 

“What’s happening?” Allura demanded.

“A Galra ship has targeted us!” Coran replied, panicked.

“How long until it gets here?”

Coran made a few calculations using his hands. “At the speed they’re going, a few days.”

“You have to go retrieve your lions now,” Allura declared. “Lance, you take Hunk with you and go get the yellow lion, Shiro and Pidge; you take a pod and retrieve the green lion. Coran and I will try to get the ship ready for takeoff and locating the red lion. There’s no way we can stand a chance against them without Voltron.”

The groups went out to get their lions. Hunk and Lance had a bit of trouble, while Shiro and Pidge had an easy time, though they denied it when Lance asked. 

“Bad news,” Coran said once they were all back in the control room. “The Galra ships will actually be here in a few hours.”

“You said a few days!” Lance exclaimed.

“I miscalculated.”

“So what do we do?” Hunk asked. “We only have three lions.”

“I still cannot locate the red lion. We have no choice but to abandon Arus and run,” Allura said. “Lance, Pidge, Hunk, you distract the ship while Coran and I will make it flight worthy.”

Lance, Hunk and Pidge did as they were told. They had a slight advantage at first since the Galra didn’t know they had the green lion, but it didn’t last long. Still, they fought off the Galra long enough for Allura and Coran to finish the emergency repairs. Shiro had helped in any way he could, though he was pretty sure the mice did more than he did.

Allura called everyone back to the castle of lions. It was barely flight worthy, but it could fly and it could open a wormhole and that was all that mattered. The castle and lions went through the wormhole.

-

During the week that followed, the team had trained and had team strengthening exercises. The absence of the red paladin, though they’d never met, felt heavy. They couldn’t do anything without him. They could just run from the Galra and do small hit and run attacks. 

For the first two days, Allura, Coran, Pidge and Hunk had worked hard to fix the ship. All of the repairs they’d done before takeoff had been urgent and mainly temporary. Once that was done and all systems were at full power, Allura had focused on finding the Red Lion. 

It only took half an hour for her to find it. It was actually very close to their location, only a few hours away, even if they didn’t go as fast as the ship could go. She called everyone to the control room over the speaker system in the castle. 

“I’ve found the red lion,” she declared once everyone had arrived.

There was a chorus of excited noises. 

“Where is it?” Lance asked.

“It’s not too far from here,” Allura pulled its location so everyone could see it. 

“Is it…” Hunk said, “Is it moving away from us?”

“Looks like it,” Pidge agreed.

“It’s not on a planet either, so it seems the lion has already found its paladin,” Allura said.

“It could also just be drifting through space,” Hunk shrugged.

“Let’s go find out which it is, then,” Lance said

“Indeed,” Coran declared. “Bring back the paladin so you can form Voltron.”

“Be careful,” Allura warned. “We don’t know if the paladin, if it indeed has one, is on our side.”

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked.

“You know the lion chooses their own paladin based on certain characteristics. For the red lion especially, those characterics does not make one kind.”

“Alright everyone,” Shiro declared. “We’re going after it, but be careful.” He turned to the Alteans. “Allura, Coran, is their a way to get in contact with the paladin?”

“All of the lions are on the same frequency,” Coran said, “so if we get close enough we should be able to communicate with the paladin.”

“Paladins!” Allura declared. “Head out and retrieve the red lion! We can not let it fall in the hands of the Galra!”


	3. Chase

Keith swore. He’d sped away from that thing that had appeared on his radar for the past few days and had put quite a bit of ground between him and it. Until about an hour ago, where it had sped toward him and three ships had emerged from it. He could have brushed it off as a coincidence, but he was way too paranoid for that. He also quickly realised that the smaller ships were heading right for him. 

He nearly had a heart attack when he heard a voice coming from the comm. 

“It’s definitely being piloted by someone.”

“Try to get in range of the comm, I’ll send the paladin a message.”

They were talking about him, or, at least, he thought so. What the hell was a paladin?

Then, he realised just what they had meant and panicked a little. Were they with the Galra?

Would they attack if they saw him as a Galra? Probably.

He had no idea how to turn off the comm, so he just hoped that they wouldn’t use it, or, at least give him a warning. He knew better though, so he decided to shift slightly, so he would be less Galra and more Altean.

A voice, one he hadn’t heard earlier, came from his comm.

“Alright everyone, remember that we can’t let the red lion fall into the hands of the Galra!”

Keith laughed. They weren’t Galra, at least. He was though, and he had the red lion. He had a feeling this would not end well. At all.

Three lions; blue, yellow and green, came behind him. He pushed his speed. 

He wondered if they had visual feeds along with the comms to communicate. They probably did, which meant Red had one as well. That screen would be the end of him and he knew it. He was too panicked to control his shift perfectly, so his cover would be blown, not that he’d had a good one to begin with. 

He saw the irony of his situation. He was running from the Empire because he was Altean and now he was running from these people because he was Galra. It pissed him off.

He focused on two things: piloting and keeping his shift. There were voices coming from the comm, but he tuned them out. He just had to outrun the other lions. They were getting close, but Keith knew that he was faster. They were only catching up because he’d been distracted. 

Red was telling him that she didn’t know who these new paladins were. She told him to be cautious, in her own weird way. 

There was suddenly a voice that filled the cockpit. He realised with horror that there was, indeed, a screen and a comm. He froze when he saw the woman on the screen. While her eyes were a dead giveaway to her species, it was the little marks under her eyes that sealed it. Keith had the exact same ones, though his were red. She was Altean and a full blooded one at that.

She didn’t seem to notice his distress as she spoke, her voice commanding. “I am Princess Allura of Altea,” she declared. “You are?”

“Keith of nowhere in particular,” he replied. 

“You are piloting the Red Lion of Voltron, do you know what that means?” It was more a demand than a question. 

He answered with a grunt, concentrating more on piloting said lion.

“It means that you are the red paladin of Voltron, the most powerful weapon ever created. Will you join us in our fight against Zarkon? As one of Voltron’s paladins, it is your duty to help those in need.”

“I didn't know there were people dumb enough to loudly go against the Emperor,” Keith replied. He’d seen what happened to those who did. At best, they were sentenced to the arena. At worst… he didn’t want to think about it.

“We can change that,” someone else came on screen. Keith recognised him immediately. “We can stop him from hurting more people if you join us.”

“What is the champion doing with you?” He hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but he did and regretted it immediately.

Before either the champion or Allura could reply, Keith was hit by something.He whirled around and saw that the blue lion was shooting him. So much for them wanting him on their side. He avoided fire and when he saw an opening, shot back. He hit all three of the other lions.

He pushed his speed farther, as fast as it could go. He could hear screaming coming from the comm, but he couldn’t make it out what they were saying. He shut it off. It was distracting him. 

-

“Lance, what the hell?” Hunk screamed when the blue paladin shot the red lion. 

“What did you want me to do?” Lance screamed back, “He’s way too fast!”

“So you shot him?” Pidge said. 

“We’re trying to get him to join us!” Shiro exclaimed. “He won’t if you scare him.”

“Yeah, Lance really scared him,” Hunk interrupted the screaming, “He’s shooting us!” He grunted when his lion was shaken by the red lion’s laser.

“He’s heading into an asteroid belt!” Coran exclaimed. 

“He’s trying to lose us,” Pidge said. “Pretty smart.”

“Don’t lose sight of him!” Allura declared. “He’s shut us off, so we can’t contact him. You have to get closer.”

Lance, Hunk and Pidge gave chase to the red lion in the asteroid belt. Like Allura had said, the red lion was fast and by the looks of it, its pilot was talented. He could easily go through the space between asteroids without any problems. 

Within a few minutes, they’d lost sight of the red lion. Allura tracked him for a few more ticks before he went through a wormhole and disappeared. 

She called everyone back to the Castle of Lions, since pursuit was now impossible. 

They now realised that getting the red lion and its paladin to join them would be much more difficult than they’d first thought.


	4. 4- Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a line in this chapter that might seem familiar to some of you. I asked a friend of mine if I should keep it in or not, but she says yes to everything so I posted it on tumblr to see the response. As of posting this, that post has 161 notes (which is, if im being honest, 151 more than I expected). 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter and if you recognise the line, give yourself a pat on the back from me.

Team Voltron met up in the control room after the disaster that had been their last mission.

“Lance,” Shiro started. “Why did you shoot Keith?”

“That’s his name?” Lance replied. “Listen, I don’t know what I was thinking, I’m not even sure if it was me or the lion’s idea to shoot.”

“It doesn’t matter who’s idea it was,” Allura declared. “You’ve scared the red paladin and now he’s gone.”

“How did it go on your end?” Pidge asked. “Did you get something other than his name?”

“He didn’t tell us where he’s from,” Coran said, “but I did notice this.”

A picture of Keith appeared on a screen. There was silence as they looked it over.

_He’s cute_ , Lance thought. Instead, he said: “He has a mullet.”

“He looks…” Hunk said. “He looks oddly human.”

“Not human,” Coran corrected. “Altean.”

The revelation felt like they’d all been slapped over the face with a brick.

Allura was frozen, her gaze stuck on his bright red pupils and purple irises, as well as the little red marks under Keith’s eyes that she somehow hadn’t noticed.

She and Coran weren’t the last Alteans. She wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry. She was relieved. A huge weight had just been lifted from her shoulders. She looked over the image again, a smile forming on her lips. She hadn’t felt this happy in what felt like a long, long time.

Keith was young. Which meant that there were still Alteans out there. Alteans old enough to have children, but also young enough to have not seen the destruction of their homeworld, but rather have heard of it in stories, if at all. She wasn’t sure which was worse.

For now though, she was glad. Even if Keith was (understandably) aggressive toward them, he was Altean.

Keith is _Altean_.

The _red paladin_ is Altean.

“There was something else,” Shiro said, breaking the silence. “I might have imagined it, but I think I saw something right before he shut us off. Coran, do you have the entire feed?”

“I do,” Coran messed around with the controls for a bit before the entire video came on screen.

Lance cringed when the cockpit shook, knowing it was because of his potshot.

“There!” Shiro exclaimed. “Pause it there!”

Coran had to go back and pause it, because what Shiro had spotted was one of the very last frames of the feed.

“Oh quiznack,” Lance said. “Please tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

“Unfortunately, it is.” Coran said, hating to be the bearer of bad news.

For the last few frames of the feed, they could clearly see purple splotches on Keith’s skin and his eyes had turned an eerie yellow.

None of them dared to speak. They were all thinking the same thing, but no one wanted to be the first one to say it.

_Keith_ is Galra.

The red paladin is _Galra._

-

Keith collapsed into this chair after going through the wormhole. Red was rumbling, a familiar purr, not too different from his own. He calmed himself down and shifted back completely to what he referred to as his “natural” form. Purple blotches over pale skin, yellow eyes and the galran ears that were common among those of the feline sub-species. It was his most effortless form, though he felt slightly more comfortable as a full on Galra. He realised looking like one would be a danger though, so, for now, this would have to do. No one could see him in here, anyway.

He couldn’t sit still. He went to the back of the lion and trained. He trained until he was sore and then kept training. He eventually collapsed onto the cold metal floor. He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, but he let the cool metal and Red’s pur calm him. He eventually returned to the chair and sagged into the seat.

His situation was fucked up. He was running from the Galra because he was Altean (and also because he’d stolen the red lion from them, but that was something else entirely). He was running from Alteans because he was Galra. There was no part of him that was redeemable. No part of his bloodline worth keeping alive. That’s what they believed.

They were wrong.

He was infinitely proud of his heritage, but a small part of him was getting tired of it.

He was proud of having learnt how to shift before learning to walk, but he realised that it had been for his safety.

He fought like a Galra soldier. He fought like an Altean soldier (but only in secret, he never let anyone see him using Altean techniques).

He had learnt Altean history bundled in a soft blanket and with his mother’s soft whispers. He had learnt Galra history in classrooms full of children with the teacher's booming voice.

He muttered a few choice Altean and Galran words, knowing there was no one there to reprimand him for doing so. He almost wished there was. Then, he wouldn’t be alone. He didn’t like being around people, but he didn’t like loneliness. And now, as he looked out of Red’s cockpit into the vast expanse of space he realised.

He was alone.

He was alone in a world that wanted him dead.


	5. 5- Priority

“This doesn’t mean anything,” Allura declared. “The red paladin is Altean.”

“You saw those last frames!” Pidge shouted. “He’s Galra!”

“Not necessarily,” Coran said. “Alteans can change their appearance.”

“You can?” Lance exclaimed.

“Indeed,” Allura said. “We are a chameleon like race, we can change our appearance to match those of other species. It’s one of the reasons why we were such great diplomats.”

“Why would he shift into a Galra?” Shiro wondered.

“Only he knows,” Coran replied, “but probably because the Galra are everywhere, so it’s safer to look like them.”

“Makes sense,” Hunk shrugged. “So what do we do now?”

“The red paladin is still our priority, but we can’t ignore all the others that are in need,” Allura declared. “We’ll continue to deliver small attacks to the Galra while also responding to distress signals.”

“Shiro won’t be able to join you until we get the red lion, though,” Coran added. “It’s just something we’ll have to deal with.”

“If there's something I can do on the ground, I’ll do it.” Shiro said. “In the air you guys are on your own.”

“Actually, we can give you cover with the castle’s defences,” Coran corrected, “but Shiro can’t fly in to help you if anything goes wrong.”

“Maybe I could, actually. Are there any fighter jets on board?” Shiro asked.

“We have pods,” Coran replied, “but nothing that could stand up in a fight, unfortunately.”

“I’ll just have to stick to the sidelines, then,” Shiro sighed.

“So, does anyone have any idea on how to approach Keith from now on?” Hunk said, “Lance definitely scared the guy.”

“Hey!” Lance exclaimed

“You shot him, Lance,” Pidge said.

Lance sighed. There was no debating the fact that he had shot Keith.

“We’ll have to be more diplomatic about our approach,” Allura declared. “Ideally, we would do it on neutral ground, face to face, rather than over comms.”

“Ideally, indeed,” Shiro sighed. “We’ll have to come up with a plan that doesn’t involve the possibility of shots being fired.” He side eyed Lance.

“We might be able to track his position more effectively,” Pidge said. “Now that I know what his lion’s signal is like, I think I can make something that’ll track him for us, so you don’t have to be always looking for him.”

“That would be very appreciated, Pidge,” Allura replied.

“I’ll get started on it,” Pidge declared.

-

Keith had fallen asleep shortly after his training session and been woken up by alarms blaring in Red’s cockpit.

He’d shot awake and sat up straight in the chair, immediately awake, where she showed him that he’d been spotted by Galra forces. He groaned.

The comm had blared out a warning, telling him to to leave the area or be shot down. He knew the ins and outs of these sorts of warnings; though they claimed he had five minutes to make his move, he actually only had a minute.

He didn’t want to get in a fight. He just wanted to survive, and the odds of that would be pretty low if he kept getting into fights with everyone who crossed his path.

Thankfully, he knew how to avoid one.

“I’ll leave.” He took his professional pilot voice. “What are your borders?”

“The edge of this system,” a slightly less professional sounding pilot voice, SLPSPV, for short, replied. “You’re just barely in range, a few minutes of flying in the direction you came from and you’re out. I’ll remove the alarm on you while you make your retreat.”

“Alright, thank you,” Keith replied, legitimately thankful, considering how quickly this could have degenerated. He turned Red around and pushed the thrusters.

“I’ll tell you when you’re out of our borders,” SLPSPV continued.

Keith’s reply was an approving grunt.

-

Elsewhere on the Galra ship, Palok, a respected Galran commander (or, at least, he likes to think so, he’s actually not loved or respected at all), looked at the ship that had just entered his fleet’s territory. It was the Red lion, that had been stolen by an unknown Galra a week earlier. This was his chance to get a promotion. He ordered a communication link to be established between them and the lion.

Barely a few ticks later, a glitched screen appeared, the lion’s pilot having disabled his visual link, but not his audio one.

“I am Commander Palok,” he declared. “You are currently piloting a ship that has been stolen from the Empire. Surrender now or suffer the consequences.”

“Isn’t there a third option?” the pilot replied. There was no worry in his voice, only what sounded to be annoyance. How rude. But two could play this game. The pilot sounded like he was about to say something else, but Palok didn’t give him the time.

“Death it is, then.”

Palok cut the feed before the pilot could respond. He didn’t allow talking back or sarcastic comments. Anyone caught doing so was immediately reprimanded.

“Ready the ion cannon,” he declared.

No one questioned his order and the cannon was readied and shot in record time. However, the cannon barely hit the lion and sent it barreling into deep space.

Not only had he missed his chance for a promotion, he was also very likely a dead Galra.

-

Keith had a few more seconds at the speed he was going before he was out of the system when the cockpit shook violently. Alarms blared as at least two dozen error messages appeared on the control panel. He managed to swerve out of the way, but in doing so he lost control and spiralled out of the system and into deep space. 

He had a feeling this would not end well for him. At all.


	6. 6- Announcement

Keith grunted as he fought for control. He’d been trained to be able to handle his ship doing a few rolls, but even this was a little too much for him. Feeling his desperation, Red managed to stabilise herself. She was urging him to land somewhere so she could recover.

He checked the reports that were coming in for the damage he’d received. The back left thruster was damaged, but could still work without too high a risk of a fire. The hydraulics of the entire left side had also been damaged, but Red assured him she could recover completely within a few hours if he found a safe place for her to rest. So he did.

A scan of the area showed that there was a system not too far away where he could find somewhere safe. The only problem was that with his damaged thruster and hydraulics, it would take him about a day to get there. He set course for that system and turned on the radio, one of the few things he’d brought with him. He wasn’t particularly listening to what the announcers were saying, but he did appreciate the background noise.

However, the radio caught his attention when he heard his father’s name. He immediately thought that the worst had happened, so he turned the volume up and braced himself for what the announcers would say next.

-

Team Voltron was lounging in the lounge after a hard day of training. Lance was sprawled out on a couch, taking the entirety of it. Shiro, Hunk and Pidge were crammed into the other one. Pidge was typing furiously at her computer, working on the tracker for the Red lion. Hunk was trying to get Lance to yield some ground while Shiro was looking over today’s training sessions on the Altean equivalent of a tablet.

“Guys, you need to hear this,” Pidge suddenly spoke up. “I'm working on the tracker and I found some galra signals and it looks like it’s a radio channel.”

“Military or civilian?” Shiro asked. Was there even such a thing as Galra civilians, he wondered.

“Looks civilian,” Pidge replied.

“Is there a danger to that?” Hunk asked. “Can they, like, track us if we listen in?”

“It’s completely safe,” Pidge assured him. "Probably."

“Stop stalling and let’s listen to it already!” Lance said from the other couch. “Maybe they have an entertaining podcast or something.”

“You heard him Pidge, let it play,” Shiro declared.

Pidge unplugged her headphones and put the speakers of her laptop at max volume. A voice filled the room and they listened intently. They’d started listening in the middle of something they had no context for, so they waited until they started talking about something else.

“Breaking news coming in just now about the disappearance of Thace Kogane’s son, Keithak Kogane. If you weren’t aware, the teenager disappeared from central command's piloting academy a week ago. A search party was sent out after his ship was damaged during a battle and was sent into deep space. No trace of him was found until a few hours ago when he contacted Commander Palok’s fleet in search of help. It’s been reported that instead of helping him, Palok shot down Keithak's already damaged ship. Commander Palok has been arrested and is awaiting trial.”

Another announcer spoke up. “It’s such a shame, really. Keithak was a shining star in the academy. Considered the best pilot of his generation. Still just a kid, too. His poor father, he’s already lost his wife in an accident and now he’s lost his son as well. Can’t imagine what he’s going through.”

A heavy silence fell over the team. Pidge cut the sound.

“There's no way this Keithak Kogane could be our Keith, right?” Hunk said. “Right?”

“They were showing pictures, too,” Pidge said quietly. She turned her laptop so everyone could see the screen.

Swears and groans filled the room.

On the screen was a portrait of Keithak Kogane.

He looked exactly like the Keith they’d run into the day before.

-

“...Can’t imagine what he’s going through.”

Keith shut off the radio. He laughed. That was one way to get Palok out of the way of the rebellion.

Still, it was a pretty good cover up for why he’d left. His father had mentioned something like that, though he hadn’t seemed sure of what the exact cover up would be. This one seemed like it could be quite effective. Not only was Palok out of the way, but Keith’s “death” would probably have quite an effect on the rebellion itself.

Hopefully, a positive one.

Keith still had his own part to play. After his escape, he had 30 days (give or take a few, it was hard to keep track of time in space) to contact the rebellion’s headquarters or one of the leaders and tell them he was alright. Any longer than that, and he would be assumed lost in space, which was the equivalent of having been killed in action.

For now though, he just had to find a place safe enough for Red to rest. Everything else could come later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all of the comments, they really make my day and motivate me to keep writing! I appreciate every single one of them. 
> 
> I have one question though. Because of the way I've decided to post this, I'm usually one or two chapters in advance when I post a chapter (as in I wouldn't post a chapter until the following one was finalised, and so on) would any of you be interested in seeing a little of the upcoming chapter(s) at the end notes (as in a sentence or maybe a small paragraph)? I might also do this on my tumblr, though I'm not sure about that yet. Tell me what you think and I'll see you next time! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	7. Signal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up that updates will be a little slow for awhile. I'll try to put out a chapter every 2 or 3 weeks, but I've started college so I can't promise anything. Don't worry though, I'll try to keep them more or less regular, especially since the chapters for this fic are so much shorter than my other one and because of that are easier to write. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Keith had been steadily making his way toward the system Red had shown him. He recognised it now. He couldn’t remember which base it was, what it’s name was, or if anyone he knew was stationed there, but the moon he was heading for, was without a doubt, one of the rebellion’s bases. He tried to get in contact with them, but even the comm link had been damaged. 

Red was definitely more damaged than he’d initially thought (or than she’d let on, he wasn’t sure if she was able to hide how damaged she was) because when he corrected his flight path by veering a few degrees to the right, he went spinning out of control. 

He fought to get it back, but no matter what he did, he just couldn’t do it. All of his years of training went out the door and he let his instincts take over. He did that often, and his instructors would scold him rather harshly for it, but he knew that they knew that his instinct were that made him such a good pilot to begin with. Were what made him the “best pilot of his generation.”

Though the world was twirling around him, he focused on staying on course for the system, for the base. He made it there faster than if he’d been in control of Red. Small victories. 

He briefly managed to get enough control to safely travel through the asteroid belt surrounding the base. He could feel Red trying to be as easy to pilot as possible, though he could also feel her strain. She definitely had taken more damage that she’d let on. 

He didn’t bother trying to contact the base again. He didn’t have the time or luxury to do so, he just had to land, now.

Then again, “land” was a harsh word. He crashed onto the moon, lost his grip of the controls and felt himself be thrown backward. 

There was a sickening crack and everything went black.

-

Allura stopped looking at the sky map for a moment and removed her hands from the controls, sighing. She and Coran were looking over distress signals in the area while the rest of team Voltron was resting after a training session. 

“He’s Galra, Coran,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

“I know, princess. No Altean can change the colour of their eyes like he does without using an enormous amount of energy. He’s Altean, there’s no denying it, but he’s also Galra,” he replied, his voice also quiet.

Allura was about to add something when she heard footsteps coming from the hall. She turned to see all of the paladins running toward them. They looked like they’d just seen a ghost. 

“What’s going on?” she asked. 

Lance was the first one to reach them. He skidded to a halt, almost running straight into one of the control panels. “It’s Keith!” he exclaimed. She couldn't tell if that was panic or excitement in his voice.

“What about him?” she asked. There was a hint of fear in her voice.

Pidge was the one who answered. “I was working on the tracker for the red lion- which is done now, by the way, I can install it later.”

“Focus, Pidge,” Shiro interrupted her.

“Right, sorry,” she let out a nervous laugh and arranged her glasses. “Anyway, I found a radio signal- Galra and civilian. We decided to listen in and this is what we heard.” 

Allura and Coran listened intently to the radio message. The others listened as well, this time being able to see the images that appeared as the announcers talked. 

When they mentioned Thace Kogane, the image of a Galran man appeared, then a picture of Keith. Allura could see the resemblance between the two. Keith’s mother was the Altean one, then. 

“He’s Galra,” Hunk said when the voice of the announcers faded. “But he’s Altean, too. What do we do? And the ship they mentioned, you don’t think it could be the Red lion? What if it was his reward of sorts for being the best pilot of his generation?”

“You all know the bond with a lion cannot be forced,” Allura assured him. 

“It’s still a possibility,” Shiro added. “There's still a possibility that he’s working for or with Zarkon.”

“I don’t think so,” Allura said. “Surely, he would be more protected if he piloted the red lion while Zarkon was aware of it.”

"But he did say that only fools would go against Zarkon," Coran added.

There was silence as everyone went over the possibilities of what Keith’s affiliations were.

They really, really hoped he was against Zarkon.

“We should not make any assumptions until we know more,” she continued. “For now, Keith is the red paladin, while he also happens to be Galra, it does not mean anything. We cannot afford to jump to conclusions when he is our only hope.”

“You’re right,” Shiro agreed. “But we can’t rule out that he might be working with the enemy. We have to be careful about this.”

“He did live in central command,” Pidge said. “That’s where Zarkon is, right?”

“It is,” Coran confirmed.

“Um, pardon me if I’m wrong but there’s also another possibility: that Keith is dead,” Hunk chimed in. “You heard the report, that was him being declared dead!”

“He can’t be,” Lance said. “You saw how good of a pilot he is!”

“He was shot down, Lance,” Hunk said. “You shot him, Lance.”

“Ok, yeah, I did! I shot the guy!” Lance threw his arms up in the air dramatically. “But I’m not the one who shot him down!” Lance took a deep breath. “I’m sure he’s alive, he has to be.” 

An alarm came from the control system. The universe map opened by itself and showed a red dot with an arrow above it.

“What is it?” Lance asked. 

Allura turned to it. “The Red lion is emitting a distress signal,” she declared. “This can only happen if the lion has taken a substantial amount of damage.”

“Keith might be in trouble,” Lance said, “we have to hurry.”

“Lance is right,” Allura declared. “Galra or not, Keith is a paladin, and we have to help him. ”

They all agreed with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be posting little previews and here's the one for chapter 8:  
> “He’s alive… not sure for how much longer, but he’s alive."
> 
> You can also find me on tumblr (starlilith) if you want to talk about Voltron! I might post some other previews or sneak peeks for chapters farther along in the story.


	8. Crash

Allura had pinpointed Keith’s location to a moon at the edge of a system. However, because of some of the ship’s limitations, they couldn’t wormhole directly to it. It would take a little longer to get there than they wanted to, but they had no choice.

Hunk had brought up a good point: there was a pretty high chance that Keith was dead, or, at least, gravely hurt. After all, the Lions only issued a distress signal if they’d taken more damage than they couldn’t heal on their own. 

Lance, Pidge and Hunk were getting ready to extract the red lion from the moon. Coran was making sure the healing pods were fully operational and ready to take in a half Galra, half Altean.

As they entered the system where Keith had supposedly landed (they refused to say that he’d crashed), they could cut the tension with a knife. 

However, they still had about 6 hours to go before they actually reached their destination. 

-

Larg’an was considered an uninhabitable moon. While the air of its surface was breathable, that was all it had going for it. There were no valuable resources on it and no potential to establish a colony there, so the Galra Empire had deemed it “uninhabitable” and left it at that.

The Galra Rebellion however, had seen it as a safe haven. It was out of the path of the shipping routes and far enough from the nearest station that any ships going to and from the base went unseen by sensors. Those reasons were why it was one of the rebellions many bases. 

Larg’an’s base had immediatly detected the unidentified ship that entered the system. It was heading right for them.

The ship had crashed near one of the base’s entrances. Kohler, the one that had been put in charge of the base by none other than the leader of the rebellion herself, sent a team to investigate the crash site. 

Within minutes, the team reached the site.

“Turn on your feeds so I can see what you’re seeing,” Kohler told them.

He couldn’t quite believe what he saw.

It was just a legend, a child’s tale, but he was seeing it with his very own eyes. The red lion of Voltron. 

“The ship’s badly damaged,” one said, “it looks like most of it isn’t from the crash.”

“Hey, look over here,” another said. “There’s a trail of… something on the ground.”

“Follow it,” Kohler said, “but be careful.”

He watched that team members feed as he followed the trail. It looked too much like blood. He hoped the pilot was alright.

His hope was short lived when a form came into view. It was obviously a body, now that they were close enough. 

Half the team gathered around it. 

“Shit, it’s just a kid.”  
“Looks to be at least half Galra and half… something.”  
“He’s alive… not sure for how much longer, but he’s alive. We need to get him back to the base, now.”  
“Get some medics out here, I’m pretty sure moving him would be a terrible idea.”

“I’ve already called them,” Kohler declared, “they should be there any tick now. The extraction team is also on it’s way.”

Barely a minute later, the medics arrived at the crash site and were led to where the youngling was. Their best guess for why he was so far from his ship was that he’d been ejected from the cockpit during the crash.

The kid was carried out in a stretcher and rushed to the operating room. While they had healing pods, they were currently broken. The mechanics were working on getting them fixed, but he would die long before they were back in order. 

The extraction team transferred the lion to one of the hangars. Thanks to how quickly they worked, within 15 minutes of the crash, the only evidence that it had happened was the crater it left behind. It blended in with all of the others on the surface of the moon, so it wasn’t much to worry about. The teams of Larg’an’s base prided themselves in working fast.

The youngling, (it’s what they’d decided to call the pilot, since they didn’t have his name) was on the table for five hours. He was still in critical condition, but he was stable, more or less. 

He was going to survive.

Probably.

Hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Rubypaladin for suggesting Kohler's name! She's also suggested names for characthers that will appear starting next chapter. You should go check her out, she's posted a story here and has a voltron side-blog on tumblr (named Rubypaladin). She's been a great help and I really appreciate it.
> 
> Here's the sneek peak for next chapter:  
> He sighed for the second time of what he felt was going to be a very, very long day.


	9. Recognition

“You’ll do great things one day son, I know it. “

“I am so, so proud of you. Never forget that.”

“When are you coming home from school? I miss you.”

He knew.

He knew he thought he would be great. 

He knew she was proud. 

He didn’t know when, if ever, he would come home.

He knew that it hurt. 

-

The offending alarm screeched loudly despite it being across the room. It’s loudness was what woke him up, not it’s sound. 

He groaned. This wasn’t a screaming baby. This wasn’t a drill alarm. This wasn’t his normal alarm, either. He had to answer to it. He looked at the clock.

Four in morning. It was four in the morning. He’d gotten back to his house at two and hadn’t fallen asleep until three. 

He could probably get through whatever this was with one hour of sleep. Probably.

He answered the call. 

“This better be important,” he said.

“It’s a kid, Setka,” Kohler told him. It must be pretty damn important if Kohler himself called him. “Barely alive, currently on life support. They need you down there.”

Setka sighed. “I’ll be there in ten.”

He dug for his uniform, put it on and left the house as quietly as possible. Barely awake, he made his way to the coffee shop. 

There was a surprising amount of people there for how early it was. 

The barista saw him come and started doing his usual but Setka stopped him. “Just give me the strongest stuff you have.”

So the barista gave him two shots of espresso with sugar and whipped cream, to make it taste decent. He thanked the man, payed, and left. 

He caught a transport to the lower levels and the effects of the espresso kicked in immediately. 

He was more or less awake as he arrived in the hospital wing. He was surprised to once again see Kohler waiting for him. Whoever this kid was, he was important.

Granted, he and Kohler were good friends, but they rarely saw each other in the context of work.

“What exactly is going on?”

“A kid crashed here a few hours ago,” Kohler explained, “they managed to stabilise him enough to get life support to work but we don’t have a pod to put him in.”

“Just keep him on life support until the pods are back online, they don’t need me for that.” He was regretting not asking for more details before he got out of bed.

“That’s not it,” Kohler insisted. “The kid’s ship was the red lion of Voltron. Setka, this kid needs to stay alive. He needs to get back on his feet. You know how long we’ve been trying to find Voltron. If this is a paladin, he has to get better as fast as possible.”

Setka sighed for the second time of what he felt was going to be a very, very long day.

-

Are we there yet Allura?” Lance asked for the fourth time in about 20 minutes.

“Actually,” Coran replied, “we are.”

“Should we head for our lions?” Pidge asked.

“Go,” Shiro said.

Hunk, Lance and Pidge went to their lions. Coran had readied a pod earlier so they could give Keith immediate medical attention, should he need it.

“That’s odd,” Allura said. “The sensors aren’t working. The Red Lion is here somewhere, but they don’t see it's exact location.”

They received an incoming message. They accepted it, expecting it to be Galra.

A Galra did indeed appear on the screen. 

“You have entered Larg’an airspace,” she said, “state your name and business here.”

“I am princess Allura of Altea. We are here to recover the red lion and its paladin.”

Shiro couldn’t believe she’d said that so casually to the Galra. 

The Galra’s expression shifted to something they couldn’t recognise, but it wasn’t aggressive. “Stand by, I’ll transfer you to someone who knows of his… situation.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Coran said.

On the screen was a symbol, which was probably the word for “standby”. 

“What’s happening Allura?” Hunk asked through his comm. “Can we head out?”

“Not yet,” she said, “Be ready.”

-

Kohler led Setka to where the youngling was. On the way, a nurse gave him a tablet with the kid's vitals. They weren’t good.

“What did he do to get these kinds of injuries?” He’d never seen anything quite like it, and he’d worked as a military doctor before he’d been out of boyhood. 

“We’re not sure, but we think he was thrown out of the cockpit when he crashed.”

“Yeesh, poor kid.”

Kohler received a call. “I have to answer this,” he told Setka, “you go on ahead.”

He left Kohler to his call and made his way to the intensive care unit. He was fully awake now, the espresso having kicked in. He was ever thankful for caffeine. 

It wasn’t long until he found the room with the kid. Through the window that showed into it, he saw that nearly the entire department was there. Things definitely weren’t good if almost every doctor on the night shift (and even some on the day shift) were there.

“Ok I’m here,” Setka declared. “Tell me everything.”

The head of the pediatrics department gave him the run down: broken clavicle, broken and fractured ribs, perforated lungs, many broken bones, damage to the vertebrae, massive internal bleeding along with many, many scrapes and bruises.

Someone else told him what had been done during the operation, but he couldn’t hear him. He’d taken a good look at the kid's face and frozen. 

There was no way.

There was no way in hell this was who he thought this was.

But it was. 

He would recognise him anywhere.

His nephew.

Keithak Kogane-Siong.

Keith, for short.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Preview for the next chapter:   
> “How can we trust you?” Shiro said. “You’re Galra, how can we trust what you’re saying?”
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	10. Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post! Chapter 11 is really long and school is a thing that exists, so progress was slow. Enjoy!

There was a reassuring presence at the back of his mind. It, no, she was telling him to keep fighting, to survive, to not give up.

He had to live.

He had no plan on dying. He fought. 

He was getting tired, though.

He would fight until his last breath.

-

Kohler answered the call.

“Sir,” a communications officer said, “there’s an altean ship in our orbit. It’s here to retrieve something called the red lion and its paladin. I’ve told them I’d transfer them to someone more knowledgeable to the situation.”

“Pass them on to me,” he replied.

The screen went black, then the callers appeared. There two Alteans and… Was that the Champion? That was definitely the Champion.

“My name is Kohler,” he said. “What can I help you with?”

“My name is Princess Allura of Altea,” the female Altean declared. “We are here to recover the red lion and its paladin.”

While it shouldn’t have been possible, she did match the descriptions and pictures they had of the Altean princess. She had been put in stasis after all.

Kohler sighed. “They’re both here,” he replied, carefully weighing his words. “The red lion is in bad shape, but the paladin is far worse.”

“How so?” Allura asked.

“I’m not aware of all the details, but I know the only thing keeping him alive right now is the life support system.”

-

Allura gulped. The red paladin was their only hope. He couldn’t die. Not after all they’d gone through to get him safely.

She wasn’t sure what to say. She looked behind her to see that both Coran and Shiro were frozen. 

“How can we trust you?” Shiro said. “You’re Galra, how can we trust a word of what you’re saying?”

The Galra- Kohler- looked at him, his eyebrows raised, then sighed. “Search Galran records all you want, you won’t find Larg’an in the files. This is a base belonging to the rebellion. We’ve been searching for Voltron for awhile, and I’m glad to see it hasn’t fallen into the wrong hands.”

He paused, then continued. “I realise my words probably mean nothing to you, but they are all I have.”

“You have Keith- the red paladin,” Allura declared. “Let us see him.”

Shock flashed across Kohler’s features for a split second. 

“Are you sure?” He asked. “The kid’s in bad shape, even I have trouble looking at him.”

“If you want us to believe you,” Allura replied, “let us see him.”

Kohler sighed. “Give me a moment.”

There was a click and the standby screen appeared again.

“I don’t think he was lying,” Coran said.

“I don’t think so either, but we have to be careful,” Allura sighed. “We should tell the paladins to return here.”

-

Kohler put the call on standby and sighed. He headed to where the kid- Keith was. He hoped it wasn’t the Keith he thought it was, but he hadn’t gotten a chance to take a good look at him, so it could be. He hoped that it wasn’t, not for his sake, but for Setka’s.

It wasn’t long before he was in the children’s ICU. He found the kid. Most of the doctors on his case had left, leaving only Setka in the room. He was just…standing there.

“Hey,” Kohler said as he quietly closed the door behind him. “You alright?”

Setka didn’t answer. He just stared at the kid. He wasn’t really staring at the kid, though. His shift had also faltered and there was a massive scar running down the left side of his face. Kohler knew what a flashback looked like, and this was a flashback.

“Your name is Setka,” he said gently. “You’re a father. You’re an uncle.You’re a brother. You’re a doctor stationed at Larg’an base. You are not a prisoner. You are not a soldier. You’re safe here.”

It took a few minutes for Setka to snap out of it. He sighed.

“I’m alright,” he breathed. “I just saw Keith and… my mind just went back there.”

“Happens to all of us,” Kohler assured him, patting his friend’s back.

“Tell me,” Setka said, his voice cold. “What exactly happened? Keith’s an exceptional pilot; he wouldn’t just crash like that.”

“There’s a good portion of his ship’s damage that wasn't caused by the crash. The mechanics are saying it looks like an ion canon’s damage.”

“Whoever did that,” Setka said, “whoever ordered that shot to be fired, is dead.”

Kohler nodded. He’d thought the same thing and he wasn’t even related to the kid.

“Why are you here?”

“The other paladins of Voltron are here. They want to see him so they know we’re the rebellion.”

“Let them,” Setka said. “I don’t mind.”

“Alright.”

Kohler took out his tablet and took the call off of standby. Immediately, the Alteans and other aliens, the same species as the Champion, appeared. He figured they were the other paladins. 

-

Kohler reappeared in the screen. “Are you absolutely sure you want to see him?”

“Yes,” Allura’s voice was stone, but if you listened close enough you could hear it shake a little.

Lance wasn’t so sure. He wasn’t sure how he felt about this whole thing.

The screen flipped and very briefly there was someone on screen, then it focused on a bed.

Their breaths caught in their throats. Kohler was right; Keith really didn’t look good. He was connected to a ton of machines, with IV’s and tubes between him and the machines. They all showed different things, probably vitals. 

“What’s his condition?” Allura asked. “How did we end up like this?”

“We’re not sure, but he was found about 50 feet away from his ship, so we think he was ejected from the cockpit during the crash.”

“And his health? What are his wounds?” Coran asked. 

Someone off screen, likely the person they’d seen for a split second, answered. “Broken clavicle, broken and fractured ribs, lots of broken bones, damage to the spine, massive internal bleeding, I could go on.”

Silence fell on the deck of the Castle of Lions. 

“Don’t you have healing pods?” Coran said.

“We do,” off-screen man replied, “but they’re out of order right now.”

“All of them?” Coran was shocked, to say the least. “How do you not have at least one of them functional? How can you be an organised group with no healing pods?”

“Healing pods aren’t commonly used among Galra. Only Alteans really used them, so when our civilization fell, the knowledge of healing pods, how to build and maintain them, mostly faded away,” off-screen man replied, cool and collected.

“We have mechanics trying to figure out what’s wrong,” Kohler added, “but so far they’ve found nothing.”

“Ok can you please turn it back so we can see you?” Lance snapped. “It’s a weird way to have a conversation.”

“Right, sorry,” Kohler said as he flipped the screen back. “So, as you can see, we are taking care of him as best we can.”

“I believe it would be better to continue this conversation in person, Kohler,” Allura said. “I apologise for doubting you, but you must understand it is hard to trust strangers in times like these.”

“I completely understand, don’t worry,” he assured her. “It would be dangerous for your ship to stay in orbit around Larg’an; we don't want to attract the Galra’s attention on us.”

“Do you propose something?” Allura asked.

“Hangar 9 is big enough to hold your ship, you can stay there. We’ll keep the bay doors open so you can leave at anytime, should you feel the need to. Of course, we’ll close the doors if a Galra convoy passes by, but otherwise it will be open.”

“We thank you for your consideration.”

“I’ll send out some ships to show you the way, I’ll be waiting for you.”

“I await our meeting.”

The screen went black as Kohler finished the call. 

“Is this a good idea?” Pidge asked. “Are we sure we can trust them?”

“I agree with her,” Hunk said. “They may say they're part of the rebellion, but they’re Galra.”

“One thing you have to remember about all this,” Coran said, “is that the first civilization Zarkon crushed is his own.”

The humans realised that there was probably much, much more to Zarkon’s attack on Altea. Allura and Coran didn’t seem to be comfortable sharing that quite yet, though.

“Didn’t that person say `our civilization` when he mentioned the Alteans?” Lance said. “Do you think there could be Alteans in the base?”

“There’s one way to know,” Allura replied, full of hope.

Ships approached them, ready to lead them to hangar 9, wherever that was. They were a little on edge, but they were also ready.

Ready to meet with the rebellion.

Ready to meet Keith. 

Ready to help save Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as heads up, updates are going to be slow for awhile. Like a mentionned earlier, college is a thing and its taking most of my attention. Anyway, here's the preview for the next chapter:
> 
> He wasn’t sure how much longer he could go on for. 
> 
> Everything hurt. 
> 
> He had to fight. 
> 
> He had to live.
> 
> He could hear more voices. 
> 
> He couldn’t recognise any of them. 
> 
> He was scared.
> 
> He was dying.


	11. Healing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is by far the longest chapter. I was going to cut it, but decided to just post it all in one shot. This is probably going to become the standard lenght for chapters now, so they'll be coming out a bit slower. Anyway, enjoy!

He was getting tired. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could fight. There was something helping him fight, but even with that it was getting harder with every passing tick.

He could hear muffled voices. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they sounded familiar.

He wanted to call out to them, but he couldn’t.

_Help me._

-

Kohler monitored the operation as the Castle of Lions was led to Hangar 9.

It took nearly an hour, but eventually the altean ship was in Larg’an. He joined them just outside of the airlock.

“It’s nice to meet you in person, Princess,” he greeted.

“It’s nice to meet you as well, um…,” she said and he realised he’d never given her his title.

“Commander. Commander Kohler,” he replied, cursing his forgetfulness.

“Well met, commander. This is my advisor, Coran and these are the paladins of Voltron: Shiro, Lance, Hunk and Pidge.”

The only one he recognised was Shiro, the Champion. The others, well, he wouldn't be addressing them by name until he was sure which was which. The princess hadn’t done a very good job of pointing them out.

Not very impressive, he found himself thinking.

“The red paladin is Keith, you’ve met him already, unfortunately.”

“Indeed. Would you like me to take you to him?”

“Yes, please.”

“One more thing,” Kohler said as he turned to face them. “Do you know what happened to him?”

“We ran into him a few days ago,” Allura said, carefully choosing her words. “Shots were unfortunately fired. Most of them were directed at us, but though it was only once, we did shoot him.”

“Was the shot fired an ion cannon?”

“It wasn’t,” Allura replied. “Neither the lions or the castle are equipped with such things; you can see for yourself if you’d like.”

“It’s fine. Don’t mention the fired shots. Such a thing could get you killed here.”

“How come?” Lance asked.

“People don’t take kindly to a cub being harmed.” Kohler simply said. “Now, let’s get going.”

The paladins exchanged quiet looks. Cub? Was Keith still considered a child in Galran society?

“Why the ion cannon specifically?” Coran asked.

“Most of the damage to his ship was from that; the rest from the crash.”

They started walking in silence toward where Keith was.

“He’s a cub,” Hunk muttered, “interesting.”

“Galra are fiercely protective of their young,” Coran chimed in. “They’re referred as cubs until they’ve reached adulthood and sometimes longer than that. From what I can tell, I would say Keith is about your age.”

“So the Galra are like space cats?” Lance said. “Cool.”

“Well, cats don’t care for their young as long as the Galra do,” Pidge chimed in. “They’re more like us in that sense.”

They walked for awhile before getting into what looked to be the Galra version of a car. Everyone piled into the back.

“I would give you the scenic route, but that can wait,” Kohler declared.

They were alone on the road until he took a turn and ended up on what they could only assume was the main road.

There were a lot of other vehicles like theirs and also what looked to motorbikes. Some people were hauling trailers behind them. It was like a road back on Earth, everyone in their car going to where they needed to go. It was a familiar sight in an alien world.

Kohler was explaining things as they passed by them, which really wasn’t much, the road was mainly surrounded by walls. It was like they were passing through a very long tunnel, which made sense since they were underground.

Lance had tuned him out. He couldn’t stop thinking that it was partially his fault that Keith was at death’s door.

It wasn’t long before they reached where Keith was. The hospital.

They were led through a ton of corridors and elevators, then Kohler turned to them and quietly said: “Remember: don’t mention that you fired shots. I can protect you from a lot of things here; but angry parents is not one of those.”

They all nodded. They rounded a corner and Kohler vaguely waved at a window.

“You wanted to see him,” he simply said.

They were silent. Keith really didn’t look good. He was connected to wires and tubes and IVs and monitors. Kohler had mentioned life support. The Galra version of it was too similar to Earth’s for them to be feel any comfort about this.

There were three people in the room. A man with white hair and two women; one with white hair as well and the other’s was purple. It looked like they were having an argument. They looked human, but their pointed ears and the marks under their eyes told them they were Altean.

They heard Allura and Coran’s sharp intake of breath as they realised it as well. There were other Alteans here. Keith wasn’t just an exception.

The one with the purple hair -the prettiest one, in Lance’s opinion- turned her gaze to them. Her eyes narrowed at Kohler. He went into the room. Leaving the others outside for now.

Kohler was used to dealing with the Siong family. One of them was his boss, and he’d been best friends with Setka since they were both cubs. He’d helped raise both of the twins and was helping with the baby. He knew many people who were afraid of them; but he never had been, had never seen a reason to be. Right now though, with both twins and father staring him down, he was afraid.

“Who the quiznak is responsible for this?” Kestrel yelled, her voice filled with murderous intentions.

“Because whoever they are, they’re dead,” Myrna said, her voice somehow even more murderous.

Setka seemed to appreciate no longer being yelled at, and turned his attention back to Keith. He was ready to kill whoever it was that had hurt his nephew, but he was slightly better at hiding it.

“We don’t know who did it yet,” Kohler shook his head, trying to calm the twins.

“What about that fake report of him being shot down by Palok?” Kestrel said. “Could it be that it wasn’t actually fake?”

“It could be,” he replied, “we’re still looking into it, we won’t know until later today if that report was actually fake or not.”

Kestrel turned to her father and sister. “You two make sure he makes it.”

“You get the healing pods back online so he can make it,” Myrna replied.

“We’re working on it,” Kestrel sighed. “We can’t seem to figure it out.”

“Well, you do your job, we do ours,” Setka said. “We can save him, we just have to do what we can.”

“Yeah,” Kestel huffed. “Does anyone have change? I need more coffee.”

“I do,” Kohler said. He gave her enough to get a fancy coffee and she headed off. She gave Allura, Coran and the paladins an odd look, then disappeared around the corner.

Setka and Myrna turned to the window. “Who are they?” she asked.

Kohler motioned for them to come in. “These are Allura, Coran, Shiro, Lance, Hunk and Pidge. The paladins of Voltron and their leaders.” He hoped he’d named them in the right order.

Both Myrna and Setka looked to be in shock.

“Allura…” Myrna muttered, “As in Princess Allura of Altea?”

“Indeed,” Allura replied, “Coran and I were placed in cryo-stasis right before Altea fell.”

“Excuse me but why are you here?” Setka asked.

“Keith here is the red paladin of Voltron,” she told him. “We wanted to make sure he was alright.”

“We have very different definitions of “alright”, I believe,” Setka said.

“He is alive, at least,” Allura sighed.

“Yes, but without the healing pods, it’s going to be a while before he gets better,” Setka said.

“What exactly is wrong with them?” Coran asked.

“The mechanics have been trying to figure that out for two weeks. I don’t know about the specifics though; I’m a doctor.”

“Kestrel probably knows,” Myrna shrugged. “She’s one of the leaders of the team that’s in charge of getting them working again.”

“I’m quite knowledgeable in healing pods, I might be able to help,” Coran said.

“Your help would be greatly appreciated,” Kohler said. “Keith isn’t the only here who needs to get into a healing pod.”

“Hunk and Pidge can come with me and lend a hand,” Coran added. “I’ve been teaching them how Altean technology works.”

“I’ll have someone show you where they are,” Kohler said. “Princess, is there somewhere you’d like to go?”

“No, I would rather stay here with Keith for now,” she replied. “Thank you for the offer.”

“Setka, can I leave them with you?”

“Sure,” he shrugged. “As long as you don’t get in the way.”

Kohler left, taking Coran, Hunk and Pidge with him to lead them to where the healing pods were.

-

He wasn’t sure how much longer he could go on for.

Everything hurt.

He had to fight.

He had to live.

He could hear more voices.

He couldn’t recognise any of them.

He was scared.

He was dying.

-

Kohler led Coran, Hunk and Pidge to the healing pods. They took up the entirety of the top-most floor of the hospital wing. The pods were kept in a circular room, not too different from the one in the Castle of Lions. There were a lot more pods though. They didn’t look broken, but Coran knew that just one out of place component was enough to throw the entire system out of whack.

A mechanic pointed them to where Kestrel was. She was bent over a table with other engineers, pouring over their notes and exchanging theories.

“No, we've already tried that, it just made it worse,” she muttered at someone’s suggestion.

Kohler introduced each of the engineers to Coran, Hunk and Pidge. He then left; he had a lot of work to do.

There was over half an hour of debate over what the problem could be. With Coran’s expertise on the matter, they quickly narrowed it down to a component of the pods themselves and a malfunctioning stabiliser in the system. Thankfully, all of the parts were on Larg’an at the moment. If they hadn’t been, it could have taken weeks for the parts to come in.

Kestrel herself volunteered to go retrieve them. “You know how delicate the guys down in storage can be,” she said, meaning that the guys  
 down in storage were rarely delicate with parts. “It’s better if someone who won’t break them goes to get them.”

The other engineers waved her off, telling her to hurry back. They would get everything ready.

Coran and Hunk agreed to help them, but Pidge asked if she could tag along with Kestrel.

On the way, Pidge asked many questions about how Larg’an works. Kestrel answered as best she could. She knew most things, but not all of them. Besides, she wasn’t going to trust a stranger with classified information.

Pidge wasn’t much help in actually carrying the parts back, not because she couldn’t lift them, but because Kestrel put them in a levitating crate.

“Strong magnets,” Kestrel explained before Pidge could ask. “There’s some with anti-gravity, but most of the crates we have are old models so they have magnets.”

“You know,” Pidge said, “after all of the things I’ve seen on the Castle of Lions, this is a little underwhelming.”

“Well, Larg’an isn’t a primarily military base, so we don’t have the best of the best.”

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t seen it because you’ve only been on the upper levels, but this place is actually a civilian base. The number of civilians is five to seven times higher than the amount of military personnel.”

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Pidge said pensively as she pushed the crate. “It makes sense that all that we’ve seen has been the military side of things, even here. I always wondered what Galra civilians were like, if there were any at all.”

“It’s like that in most bases and ships, whether they’re from the rebellion or the empire. Why do you think they have so many drones? That’s most of the military strength. Galra are warriors, yes, but most on the ground fighters or patrollers are druids.”

Pidge fell quiet and Kestrel continued.

“While there are a lot of military, especially in central command, there’s a lot more civilians.”

“That makes sense,” Pidge agreed. “How many species are there here? So far I’ve only seen Galra and Alteans, and you and the other two are the only Alteans, from what I can tell.”

“I have no idea,” Kestrel shrugged. “My guess would be maybe around 50 or so? I don’t have access to that data. What I can tell you though, is that Larg’an is the rebellion base with the highest amount of civilians. It's technically the second, but the one in first place isn’treally a base, so it doesn’t count, in my opinion.”

Pidge was still quiet and for a moment, Kestrel thought that she’d offended her somehow.

“I’m sorry,” Pidge finally said. “I always just assumed all Galra were evil. I guess having your family kidnapped by them does that to you.”

“What happened to them?” she asked.

“They were kidnapped by Galra about a year ago. I don’t where they are or if they’re still alive, but they have to be. I’ll find them. I’ll find them and I’ll save them and bring them home.”

“I’m sorry to hear. If it helps, I know someone who can check if they’re in the system. If they are, it means they’ve been freed, everyone who is is put in the system.”

“That would be amazing, thank you! You Galra really aren’t all bad.”

“Even though I’m Altean,” Kestrel pointed out.

“You live among them though.”

“And I was raised among them,” Kestrel laughed. Maybe these paladins weren’t that bad after all. She might consider trusting them with her precious little cousin.

-

As soon as Kohler was gone, Setka and Myrna started bouncing out ideas for how to improve Keith’s situation. There really wasn’t much, considering everything had been fixed up during the operation. The rest of the injuries would heal with time, or better yet, with the help of a healing pod.

Keith had been forced into a coma to keep him stable, but he was still getting weaker. At this rate, he wouldn't last any longer than a day, at most.

Allura, Shiro and Lance listened quietly. They weren’t quite sure what to say, or if they should say something.

All three were responsible for the current situation. Allura and Shiro had failed to explain things clearly to Keith. Lance had shot Keith and scared him away. They were all equally responsible, but they all refused to put the blame on each other.

“Oh!” Myrna suddenly exclaimed, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room, “I know what I can do.”

“Go on,” Setka urged her.

“I can transfer some of my quintessence to him, so he’ll be stronger. If I do it right, I can give him a week; that should hopefully be long enough for the mechanics to fix up the pods.”

“Are you sure?” both Allura and Setka said at the same time.

“A quintessence transfer is dangerous,” Allura said. “Unless you know exactly what you’re doing- and even then- you can hurt both yourself and Keith, especially if you two aren’t compatible.”

“I know what I’m doing, don’t worry,” Myrna assured her. “A huge part of my part of my training was quintessence transfer, I can do it with anyone, my quintessence is very malleable, not that it matters with Keith though; he’s my baby cousin.”

“As long as you can do it without wearing yourself out, feel free,” Setla told her. “Just be careful.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

Setka turned to the trio. “Come with me, you don’t want to be in the room while she does this.”

“Lead the way,” Allura said.

They left the room, leaving Myrna alone with Keith.

She immediately got to work, having done this enough times just in the past week to not have to think about it. She still would, because this was Keith she was dealing with, but she knew what she was doing.

The problem with quintessence transfers was that they didn’t always work, even if the ones doing it were compatible. She hoped it worked, If it didn’t, Keith would be dead by day’s end.

-

Setka led the trio through corridors. He really didn’t have any destination in mind, but he figured this walk would be a great way to get some information out of them.

“What do you know about what happened?” he asked. “You’re paladins as well, how come you weren’t there when it happened?”

Allura looked at Shiro and Lance, her expression saying _Let me take care of this._

“We made contact with Keith about three days ago,” she figured starting from the start would be the best way to give Setka as much context as she could. “Our first encounter did not go well. We were unclear in our intentions and shots were fired. We were the ones to shoot first; he was the one who retaliated with his own. He escaped through a wormhole. We tried to find him again afterwards, but it wasn’t until a few hours ago that we picked up the Red Lion’s distress signal. We don’t know what happened between when he escaped us and when he crashed unfortunately. All we know of is that report of him having been shot down by Commander Palok, but we weren’t sure if it was true or not.”

She didn’t mention the fact that they’d thought he worked for Zarkon. She didn't mention that it was Lance who fired the first shot. It felt like she was ommitting almost everything.

Setka stared them down. They felt like he was staring into their very souls, which he very well might have been.

“So you're telling me,” his voice was cold and calculating, “that Keith may die today because you were `unclear with your intentions`?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Allura didn't break Setka’s gaze. “I take full responsibility for our actions. Apologies are useless in these kinds of situations, so I understand if you do not forgive us; I don't expect you to.”

“As Keith’s uncle it would be completely fair for me to kill you right here and now without anyone batting an eye,” Setka declared.

Shiro and Lance exchanged a panicked expression.

“But as an Altean I can’t do that,” he finished. “You are still royal.”

“My status will not get in the way of whatever punishment you decide to put upon me or my team, I can assure you.”

Setka sighed. It was obvious he was tired and stressed out. “I’ll let Keith decide what that will be. He was the one you wronged; he should be the one to decide.”

“Thank you, truly,” Allura bowed, and so did Shiro and Lance. “We appreciate it.”

“Just don’t mention any of this to the twins; they will kill you, royalty or not.”

-

He felt a surge of power.

It was wrapping around him, keeping him safe.

It was reassuring, familiar, somehow.

He felt stronger.

He could make it.

He could survive.

-

The mechanics immediately got to work after receiving the parts needed to fix the pods. The part had failed in every pod at the same time, while it shouldn’t have made them completely operational, the fact that the stabiliser had also broken had ground the entire system a stop.

“This is like the Mayday version of healing pods,” Pidge muttered.

“This is the healing pod edition of Mayday, you mean,” Hunk replied.

“What’s a mayday?” Kestel asked for pretty much everyone in the room that wasn’t Pidge and Hunk.

“It’s a show we have on Earth,” Pidge answered. “It shows everything that went wrong with a plane that caused it to crash. Often, it’s a combination of components who all fail at the same time.”

“It’s unnerving to know that your machinery breaks often enough for you to be able to make a show out of it,” Kestrel replied, mildly horrified.

Pidge paused. “You bring up a good point.”

“Anyway,” Hunk decided it was a good time to change the subject. “When will the system be back online?”

“We’ll work on it until it’s fixed, even if we have to work overnight,” Kestrel declared. “If nothing else goes terribly wrong, I’d say that by tomorrow morning the pods should be ready. We’ll conduct a few tests beforehand to be sure, but no longer than after-tomorrow.”

“I’ll help you through every step,” Coran added. “Wouldn’t want something to go wrong now.”

-

Setka didn’t trust these Alteans at all. Royalty or not, they were responsible for Keith being at death’s door. He had half a mind to call his sister and see what she would say, she didn't need to know Keith was hurt. She also needed to know Keith was alive.

He’d call her later. For now, he had to focus on Keith.

Myrna had, once again, done a fantastic job of transferring her quintessence to him. He wasn’t sure why he’d been worried about it.

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” she said after giving him her report, “I’m going to go nap for a while. If I’m not at home when you get back; you know where to find me.”

“I’ll see you later,” Setka said even though Myrna was already halfway out the door.

“There isn't much we can do here,” Setka told Allura, Shiro and Lance. “I have other patients to attend to, so I must take my leave. You’re only allowed in here with authorized personnel, so you’ll have to leave as well. Do you want to go join your team?”

“We would, yes,” Allura replied.

“I’ll show you where the waiting room is. I’ll have someone take you to them.”

“Thank you again,” Allura bowed. Setka nodded in response.

“I’m not the only one who finds him absolutely terrifying?” Lance said once they were in the waiting room.

“He’s intimidating,” Allura said.

“He’s pissed off, and understandably so,” Shiro said. “I can’t blame him. I’d be pissed off too if my family got hurt because of a misunderstanding.”

“This whole situation is just weird,” Lance sighed.

Soon after, someone came to take them to where the others were.

Coran, Hunk and Pidge were hard at work, as well as the young Altean woman they’d seen earlier with Setka and Myrna. They guessed she was the other twin.

There wasn’t much they could do to help, but they found ways to be useful.

Allura helped getting the system back online, while Shiro and Lance lifted things.  
-

Kohler had returned to work after bringing Coran, Hunk and Pidge to the pod room. He mostly dealt with paperwork he should've done the night before, as well as starting his report on the current situation.

Eventually, Kiral, one of the archivers, passed by his office and gave him the result of the investigation on the report of Keith having been shot down by Commander Palok.

It was true. He’d been shot with a battleship’s ion cannon. The cannon had only grazed his ship, but it had done enough damage to send him barreling toward Larg’an. In the official report that had been given to the Galra empire, Keith had been piloting an already damaged cruiser and not the Red Lion.

At least Palok would be out of their way.

-

When most mechanics went home for the night, so did most of team Voltron. Only Coran and Pidge stayed behind, insisting they should stay until the system was back online.

It was nearly four in the morning when all tests came back positive and the pods were cleared for receiving patients.

-

There was a buzz.

There were a lot of people around.

They were all talking quickly. He couldn’t understand.

He was being moved.

He couldn’t move.

What was happening?

He couldn’t talk.

_Tell me what’s happening._

_I’m scared._

-

Keith was on top if the list to get into a healing pod. As soon as the mechanics sent the word the pods were clear, he was prepared for a pod.

Within 15 minutes, he was being taken up to the pod room.

Within half an hour, he was being put into one.

The pod showed that a full recovery would take about 20 hours.

Kestrel and Setka lingered around the pod long after everyone else had left.

“I’ve been awake for 24 hours,” Setka sighed. “I’ve been running on coffee and prayers.”

“Same here,” Kestrel yawned. “Are you gonna call auntie Roma?”

“Yeah,” he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to do that and crash.”

“Same here,” Kestrel said, “a 19 hour nap sounds great right about now.”

“That does sound absolutely wonderful.”

Setka took out his tablet and dialed his sister’s number. He hoped she was awake. She wasn’t. He left a message, telling her to call when she was.

He wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.

-

There was something enveloping him.

It was nice and warm.

He felt safe.

He felt better with every passing tick.

He would survive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: the total word count for this chapter alone is about 1/4 of the total word count so far.
> 
> Next chapter:  
> “Mom, dad and Kes are on their way, and so are the paladins of Voltron. Do you know who they are?”
> 
> He groaned. He knew who they were alright. He nodded.
> 
> “Okay good so they’re not just random strangers pretending to know you,” she nodded solemnly. “Good experience or bad experience?”
> 
> “One of ‘em shot me,” he said, “the blue one. Blue lion.”
> 
> “They did?” They were dead. Whichever was the paladin of the blue lion was dead.


	12. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you by post-midterm exhaustion and powernaps. Enjoy!

Setka found himself developing a seething hatred for alarms as one started screeching. It was the phone, he realised after half a second. A phone that was halfway across the damn house. 

 

Whoever was calling, they could leave a message.

 

The phone stopped screaming suddenly. Someone must’ve picked it up. He wasn't complaining.

 

He closed his eyes to get back to sleep, but he heard footsteps shuffling toward his room.

 

The door creaked open and Myrna’s head popped into view. “It’s Auntie Roma,” she whispered, “what do I tell her?”

 

Setka got out of bed. “I’ll talk to her, pass it to me.”

 

Myrna gave him the phone and disappeared back into her room. 

 

“You wanted to talk to me?” his sister’s voice sounded in the phone. He only hated her a little bit right now.

 

“Yeah, are you sitting down?” he rubbed the bridge of his nose. 

 

“No, why?”

 

“You might want to sit down.”

 

He knew that she knew that this meant something had happened to a family member.

 

“Yesterday during the night,” he started, “the Red Lion of Voltron crashed on the surface of Larg’an.” He heard a soft gasp on the other side of the line. “It’s paladin was ejected from the cockpit. Here's the thing: we know the red paladin; it’s Keith.” He'd figured the best way to tell her was to be direct and to the point.

 

“What happened to my baby? Is he alright? Your healing pods are offline aren’t they? How hurt is he? Is he going to be ok? Do I need to turn Lyra toward Larg’an?” 

 

“No, we got the pods back online a few hours ago; he’s in one now. Getting the pods back online is a story for later, but I just wanted to tell you that Keith is with me and that he’s going to be fine.”

 

“Thank you for telling me,” he heard a sigh of relief. They’d all been worried after Keith had been quiet for so long. “You’re going to have to tell me that story.”

 

“I will, it’s just that you woke me up, so I’m too tired to accurately recount it.”

 

She chuckled. She knew Setka had a long history of sleep deprivation. “When will my baby be out of the pod?”

 

“About 15 hours? I’m not sure how long he’ll be in recovery afterwards, but I’ll have him call you when he wakes up.”

 

“Thank you,” His sister sighed with relief. “I know I woke you up, so I’ll let you get back to sleep. Call me later for the rest of the story.”

 

“Kohler might send you his report by the time I wake up though.”

 

“Good point,” she laughed. “Call me anyway. Your reports are more entertaining.”

 

“Alright, I will.”

 

“Good night.”

 

“Good day.”

 

Setka went back to sleep. He was still dead tired, and he had to be fully awake when Keith would wake up. 

 

-

 

Sleep had not been found easily by anyone in the Castle of Lions. Hunk, Pidge and Coran had come back late, though they’d still found everyone awake. 

 

They stayed in the common room, waiting impatiently for morning. They had no real plan, aside from waiting for Keith to wake up. They could go out to explore Larg’an, but they weren’t in the mood for it at all.

 

They did eventually fall asleep, but none went to their rooms. Eventually, around what was 7 in the morning Larg’an time, they received a call from Kohler.

 

Allura answered quietly, not wanting to wake the paladins. She agreed to meet with him. She was cautious, but she’d come to believe the Galra to be trustworthy. She remembered at time where the Galra lived along Altea, and she believed that could happen again, and it began with the rebellion. She realised that that was what the rebellion was. Oppressed people coming together toward a common goal. 

 

She met Kohler just outside of the castle, the hangar doors having been closed to preserve power during the night. Kohler had given them the remote to manually open it, so any doubts about it had been put aside. 

 

“Sleep well?” he asked her.

 

“None of us have,” she sighed, “though they are sleeping now.”

 

“I’m surprised they’re that worried,” Kohler huffed.

 

“Before you told us he was alive, we feared for the worst. We were almost certain that he was dead.”

 

“Let’s be glad he’s not.”

 

There was a silence.

 

“In about an hour,” Kohler said, “friends and family will be allowed in to visit those in the pods. I thought you’d like to know.”

 

“Thank you,” she replied. “Would be a good idea however?”

 

“It shouldn’t be a problem.” He was confident Setka could keep his cool, but it was something else entirely when it came to the twins. They were a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention Keith’s mother. He shuddered at the thought, glad that she was on Lyra and not here.

 

“Kestrel has also expressed interest in showing you around here, should you want to. She finds it unfair you’ve only seen the military side of things.”

 

“A tour from her would be much appreciated.” Allura assumed that this Kestrel was the other twin, the one with purple hair that had been in charge of getting the pods back online.

“Would you and the paladins care to join me for breakfast?” Kohler asked. “It would help kill the time.

 

“Of course, I’m sure they’d appreciate the food,” Allura replied. “I’ll go see if they want to, I will return shortly.” 

 

Kohler gave her a curt nod. From what Allura could tell, he was a man of professionalism. He was a commander in what was, aside from Voltron, the only organisation that actively opposed Zarkon. 

 

She returned to the common room to find all but Coran asleep. Pidge was curled up against him, so he hadn’t moved. She knew he would have otherwise. Then again, if he’d felt she were in danger he wouldn’t have let that bother him.

 

“Everything alright princess?” he asked quietly.

 

“Kohler invites us to breakfast, what do you think?” she answered, equally quiet.

 

“I think it’s fair,” he solemnly nodded, “Keith won’t be awake for a long while, anyway.”

 

Allura clapped her hands together loudly. “Paladins!”

 

They all woke up with a yelp. Hunk jumped to his feet, which made Lance, who had been laid out on his lap, fall to the ground with an undignified screech. Shiro jumped slightly and was immediately alert. Pidge looked around, sleep still in her eyes. 

 

Lance picked himself up from the ground with Hunk’s help. “What the quiznak Allura,” he said flatly.

 

“I just finished speaking with Kohler and he invited us to breakfast. Would you like to go?”

 

The humans exchanged excited looks, and all pretty much said the same thing: “hell yeah”.

 

They met up with Kohler outside the castle after taking a few minutes to clean themselves up. 

 

Kohler led them to what they assumed was a restaurant. They lost count of the amount of species they saw. This rebellion wasn’t just the Galra; it seemed that every species in the universe was here. It was just a small fraction of species, they knew, but it was good to know that there were so many people from so many different places that were fighting with the same goal. Not to mention that this was only one small section of one of the rebellion's bases. 

 

After almost two weeks of eating green space goo, actual food was delicious. It tasted a little weird, but it was edible and it was food and it wasn’t goo. 

 

At one point, Pidge asked what had happened to the Red Lion. Kohler explained that it bad heed itself of any and all damage it had sustained when it had crashed. It was relief to hear that.

 

After breakfast, they headed to what they referred to as the “pod room”. It’s actual name was in Galran and after trying (and failing) to pronounce it for a few minutes, had decided to call it that.

 

There were other people gathered around other pods, but the one with Keith only had one person. 

 

Myrna turned when they approached, having somehow sensed them. Lance was sure she had eyes in the back of her head. She was simply constantly very aware of her surroundings. 

 

“Morning,” she simply said.

 

“How is he?” Allura asked.

 

“Better than yesterday. He should be out by tonight.”

 

“It truly is amazing,” Coran said, “with injuries like his, recovery in the pods in the castle would take triple that amount of time, maybe more.”

 

“There’s been a lot of advancements in pod technology, even if there’s just a handful of Alteans left,” Myrna explained. “At first, they had no idea what they were doing, but recently we’ve been able to recover a lot of information that was lost when Altea fell.” 

 

“Why was the technology lost?” Allura asked. “Why didn’t anyone know how to work it?”

 

“Well, they knew how to work it, but not how it worked. Most of the Altean survivors were civilians. There were few military or mechanics who made it out.”

 

“That’s terrible,” Pidge said. 

 

“We’ve picked ourselves up though,” Myrna said to lighten the mood. “We may only number in the thousands, but our impact can be felt across the entire universe. We could have chosen to hide, but we chose to fight. Now people from all across the universe are surviving along with us. Fighting alongside us. I’m sure the Alteans who founded this whole thing are proud of what it’s turned into.”

 

“I’m absolutely certain they are,” Allura said. 

 

“Thanks.”

 

Silence fell. It was a comfortable silence however, so it was fine.

 

“So,” Hunk eventually said. “Are we just going to stand around here all day? I care for Keith, I really do, but I can't stand here all day.”

 

“Hunk’s right,” Pidge chimed in. “Who knows when Kestrel’s gonna be awake though.”

 

“She was getting up when I left the house,” Myrna muttered. “She should be here soon. Unless she fell back asleep, of course.”

 

“Wouldn’t blame her,” Pidge shrugged. “We were up pretty late last night.”

 

Almost as if on cue, Kestrel joined them, cup of what they could only assume was the equivalent of coffee in hand.

 

“Hey,” she greeted.

 

A chorus of “good morning” came from the voltron crew.

 

“It’s good that you guys are here; I wouldn’t have known where to go to meet with you otherwise,” she said before taking a chug of coffee.

 

“We are looking forward to your tour,” Allura said.

 

“Myrna are you joining us?” Shiro asked.

 

“No, I have work until 2 today, but maybe later.”

 

“Alright then,” Kestrel declared, channeling the persona she used when wrangling kids at camp, “let’s get going.”

 

As it turned out, Larg’an was huge. Like Kestrel had told Pidge the day before, the military facilities were just a small portion of the base. Roughly 3 miles below the surface of the moon, the cold metal corridors gave way to a massive cavern and “natural” lighting. 

 

They learnt that most of the cavern was natural, but that a portion of it had been dug out.

 

In the cavern, there was a massive city. Originally, the commercial and residential districts were separate, but over the years they’d merged together and had become one huge district. There were still areas that were more residential, but shops were strewn about. 

 

“Isn’t it like that everywhere?” Hunk asked.

 

“Not in Altea,” Allura answered. “Shopping and living areas were always kept separate. How is it on Earth?”

 

“Like here,” Pidge shrugged, “but without all of the different species, of course.”

 

They continued to tour what was referred to as the “inner city”, where most of the shops were concentrated. 

 

As they ventured into it, Shiro was glad that Kestrel seemed to be an expert at shooting down flirts, or, at least, at shooting down Lance. 

 

Right at the start, she’d shot down his advances with a bright smile before immediately turning her attention to Pidge. Lance had been left speechless for a few moments and had shot a death glare at Pidge. She’d just given him a shit eating grin over her shoulder. 

 

Shiro was still deciding if Kestrel had paid attention to Pidge because she’d been the closest, or because she was Pidge. He couldn’t blame her; there was something about Pidge that made people’s motherly instinct kick in. 

 

Kestrel had no regrets shooting down the human known as Lance. She’d dealt with so many people like him over the years, it was practically a reflex. She hadn’t just turned to Pidge because she was the closest, but also because she liked Pidge. She’d loved working with her the night before and looked forward to working together again. 

 

She showed them the city. In the middle of the afternoon, her phone rang. She excused herself for a moment, walking a bit away from the group to take the call. There was an overly excited Myrna on the line.  
-

 

Myrna had started her shift, but had her work tablet rigged with Keith’s pod, so she could keep an eye on his progress. 

 

At one point, his expected time to be done went down drastically and she immediately thought something was wrong with the pods.

 

There was a joke in the department that the pods sometimes gave a hilariously long heal time for something as small as a broken leg, or a hilariously short time for someone on the brink of death. The pods would recalibrate themselves after a few minutes, but they always got a laugh out of the 500 hours listed to fix a bruised rib.

 

So she waited for the pod to recalibrate itself, but there was no change. There were three other recalibrations, the pod either being self aware of its terrible estimation or someone downstairs had notices it and was recalibrating manually. Either way, when it came back, it still showed the same thing. According to the new reading, Keith would wake up within the hour. She didn’t think much of it.

 

The pod’s estimation was at the back of her mind as she saw another patient. As soon as the appointment finished, she received the message saying Keith was waking up. Those messages, compared to the estimation, were always accurate, as they were signaled by another system. She muffled a scream and rushed to the pod room.

 

She was pretty sure she made it to the pod room in record time. He was being transferred onto a gurney and would be transported to a recovery room in the hospital. She followed with them, saying she was his cousin. Seeing as they were both Altean, the crew didn’t question it. That was a security breach she would have to bring attention to later.

 

Once Keith was safely transferred and given the green light for visitors (but only family while he was still asleep, the doctor in charge insisted), she excitedly called home.

 

Her mother was the one who answered. “Siong household.”

 

“Hey mom! Is dad awake?”

 

“No dear, he’s still asleep. Do I have to wake him up?”

 

“Yeah, Keith finished early and he’ll be up by the end of the hour.”

 

“That’s wonderful! I hope Kili’s babysitter is available, I don't think Keith will want to deal with his screeching right after waking up.” Said screeching could be heard in the background.

 

“Worse comes to worse I’m sure Kiral wouldn’t mind babysitting. They don’t have work today.”

 

“I might do just that, it would simpler that calling the babysitter. I have to go wake up your father, wish me luck.”

 

“Good luck, I’ll see you at the hospital.”

 

She hung up and immediately called Kestrel. 

 

“Aren’t you at work?” Kestrel said as she answered the call.

 

“Keith’s waking up!”

 

“Quiznak, are you serious?”

 

“I wouldn’t joke about this. Meet me in the children’s hospital. Leave the paladins at the entrance; it’s family only. Non-family are only allowed with the patient's permission.”

 

“Alright, we’ll be right there.”

 

The excitement was obvious on her face as she returned to where she’d left the paladins. 

 

“What’s going on?” Hunk asked.

 

“Keith’s waking up!” She answered. 

 

“We have to go!” Lance exclaimed. “Which way to… Which way to wherever he is!”

 

“This way!” Kestrel took off toward the hospital, making sure the others were close behind. 

 

-

 

He was tired, but he decided it was a good kind of tired. He knew this was a safe place and that he wouldn’t get hurt here. He opened his eyes. This was a hospital room. A rebellion hospital room. So he’d made it. He briefly wondered which base this was. Then he smelt a waft of tharna perfume and knew this was Larg’an.

 

“Good morning!” His cousin, Myrna, popped into view. She was cheery as always and wearing her uniform, meaning she should be at work. Something at the back of his mind told him that she was at work, and that he was just at the hospital, which was her work place. 

 

“G’mornin’” he managed to say. His throat was dry and he was still a little loopy from the pod’s anesthesia. 

 

“Hang on, I’ve got water for you,” she said as she reached for something beyond where he could see. 

 

She helped him sit up straight and grab the baggie of water. It was good. He was pretty sure it was flavoured, but he couldn’t tell.

 

“I know you’re tired, so I’ll be quick,” she said as she took the drink away from him. “Mom, dad and Kes are on their way, and so are the paladins of Voltron. Do you know who they are?”

 

He groaned. He knew who they were alright. He nodded.

 

“Okay good so they’re not just random strangers pretending to know you,” she nodded solemnly. “Good experience or bad experience?”

 

“One of ‘em shot me,” he said, “the blue one. Blue lion.”

 

“They did?” They were dead. Whichever was the paladin of the blue lion was dead.

 

He made a sound that resembled “uh-huh”. 

 

“Others didn’t,” his mind was clearing out the fog a little. “Don’t quite remember what happened, but I think they were yelling at the blue one? I’d tuned them out at that point, so I’m not sure what they were yelling about, but they definitely yelling.”

 

“What did they want? Why did they want to see you?”

 

Before he could answer, three people came into the room. He recognised them all. His other cousin, Kestrel, his uncle, Setka, and his wife Seiran.

 

His uncle immediately went into doctor mode and asked questions about his well being, how he was feeling, if he was sore anywhere, etc. 

 

After many “I’m fine”s and “I feel great,” Setka was satisfied. 

 

Myrna spoke up again. “So about what I asked earlier…”

 

“They wanted me to become a paladin of Voltron.”

 

“Oh.”

 

As Alteans, they’d heard the stories of Voltron and knew that it wasn’t just a legend. 

 

“Why didn’t you say yes?” Kestrel asked.

 

“I just wanted to go home,” Keith sighed. “I was focused on keeping my shift and piloting.”

 

“Why were you shifting?” Setka asked.

 

“I could hear them over the coms and they said they couldn’t let the red lion fall into Galran hands. You know I’m more comfortable as a Galra so I just… freaked out. Then the blue lion shot me so I ran.” 

 

“It’s alright,” Myrna said, taking him into a tight hug. “We’ll fix this, don’t worry.” 

 

“Where are they, anyway?” he asked. “You said they were here.” 

 

“I left them in the waiting room,” Kestrel said. “Didn’t want you to be too overwhelmed when you woke up.”

 

“Which waiting room?” Seiran asked. “I’ll go get them.”

 

“Main one,” Kestrel replied. “I hope for you they didn’t wander off.”

 

“Let’s hope so,” she laughed. “I’ll be right back.”

 

Silence fell as she left. They would fix this somehow. It had been a misunderstanding. Voltron would be a huge asset to the rebellion. Not to mention they had Alteans with them. They had to tread lightly here.

 

Hopefully, it would go well. 

 

-

 

Seiran thankfully had no problem finding the Voltron crew. If anything, they seemed out of place in the waiting room. There were hundreds of species on Larg’an, but there were only 5 Alteans (6 counting Keith), so the two accompanying the crew were easy to spot. 

 

“Hello there,” she said as she approached them. “You’re the Voltron crew, right?”

 

“Yes, we are,” a woman, Allura, she knew, answered. “I don’t believe we’ve met. You are?”

 

“I am Seiran Siong, you’ve met my daughters, Myrna and Kestrel as well as my husband, Setka already. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

“It’s nice to meet as well. Are you here to take us to Keith?”

 

“Yes, I am. Follow me, please. All of you.”

 

She brought them back to the room. She just hoped everything would go well.

 

-

 

Lance had thought he’d be ready to see Keith, but he wasn’t. He hadn't expected Keith to have completely yellow eyes, or purple splotches that looked like (and might be) bruises on his face, or furry cat-like ears. He still had that dumb mullet that was now purple instead of black. At least he had no injuries. The healing pod had done its job.

 

He wondered if Keith knew that he was the one who had shot him. 

 

He just looked at them, his eyes scanning them. Despite the lack of iris, he could still feel his gaze on them. 

 

Setka and the others stood between them and Keith, acting like a wall. He couldn’t blame them. 

 

“How are you feeling?” Allura asked him.

 

“I’m fine,” he replied. “Princess Allura, right?”

 

“Yes, it’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

 

“I would like to apologise for everything that’s happened,” Allura said. “It is our fault you were hurt.” 

 

Keith nodded. It didn’t look like he was particularly mad at them, but the rest of the family were boring holes into their souls.

 

Allura continued. “We should have been clearer with our intentions.”

 

“Well, you’d made those pretty clear before you’d first contacted me,” his voice was coated in anger. “‘We can’t let the Red Lion fall into the hands of the Galra,’ that’s what you said.” He looked between Allura and Shiro, then settled on Shiro. “No, you were the one who said it, I think.”

 

“We both said it,” Shiro said, Keith recognised his voice and knew it was him he’d heard say it. 

 

“How did you hear Shiro say that?” the smallest one asked. “We weren’t in range of your comm at the time.”

 

“You were. I could hear you long before you contacted me.”

 

“We truly apologise for that,” Allura said. “We didn’t know at the time that you were Galra, we hadn’t been expecting a Galra to be at the commands of the Red Lion.”

 

“What’s wrong with a Galra being at the commands?” Kestrel asked. She waited for the answer, and the Voltron crew knew that if they answered this wrong, it wouldn’t end well for them. 

 

“We wrongfully thought at the time that all Galra were with the Empire. We didn’t know about the Rebellion,” Allura replied, which was probably the best she could answer on the spot. 

 

The Siongs seemed to approve of her answer. 

 

“But wait,” Hunk said, hoping he wouldn’t get his head cut off for interrupting. “Keith, you said something about no one being dumb enough to stand up against Zarkon, didn’t you?”

 

“Well, yeah,” Keith shrugged. “No one’s dumb enough to loudly go against the empire the way you did. If someone else had been able to hear you, or if you’d gone into contact with anyone else, you’d be dead by now.” 

 

That was a terrifying thought. Thank goodness they hadn’t contacted anyone else, or that no one else had been in range of the comm. Coran made a mental note to check their comm system to make sure no one could listen in on them.

 

Keith seemed to realise something and sat up a little straighter. “How’s Red?” he asked.

 

His family looked at him, wondered what in the quiznack he was talking about, but the paladins immediately knew what he was talking about.

 

“The Red Lion is fine,” Allura told him. “She’s healed most of the damage. She’s worried about you.”

 

He nodded. 

 

“I have a question for you paladins,” Myrna said as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. Even with her relaxed posture, she still looked ready to kill. It seemed it wasn’t just the Galra who were fiercely protective of their young. “What exactly happened the first time you contacted him? And which one of you is the paladin of the Blue Lion?”

 

Lance had a feeling this would not end well for him, at all.

 

Allura gave them the same description she’d given Setka the day before. She could tell he was scrutinizing her for any inconsistencies. She finished, and the Siongs were clearly waiting for her to say who the blue paladin was.

 

Before Allura could speak up, Lance took a deep breath and stepped forward. He steeled his voice. “I am.” He looked at Keith, directly into his clear, a little creepy, yellow eyes. “I’m the one who shot you, and I’m truly sorry for it.”

 

Keith didn’t break eye contact. Lance could feel the Siongs piercing holes into him, but he kept his eyes on Keith. He wasn’t sure if he could handle their murderous looks.

 

“Why did you do it?” Keith simply asked.

 

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “I’ve been thinking about it and I can’t tell you why.”

 

Before he could do anything, he was grabbed by the collar, shoved into the nearest wall and lifted up. “So you’re telling me,” Myrna said, clearly pissed off and looking like she might just kill him here and now, “that Keith almost died because you shot him and you don’t know why you did it?” She tightened her grip on his collar and lifted him a little higher. Lance couldn’t move. He didn’t know what to say.

 

The Voltron crew exchanged panicked looks, unsure of what to do. A hospital room was hardly a good place to fight, and they had a feeling that if they did fight, they wouldn't make it out of Larg’an alive. 

 

“Myrna!” Setka exclaimed.

 

“You heard him!” she replied. “He’s the one who shot Keith! It’s because him he almost died!”

 

“Lance isn’t the one who fired the shot that made him lose control of the Red Lion,” Pidge said. 

 

“It’s commander Palok who ordered that shot,” Keith said. “All he did was make me run from them.”

 

“Yes, and it’s the fact that you ran that got you shot by Palok,” Myrna replied. 

 

“No one could have known that would happen,” Hunk said. “No one could have predicted something like that.”

 

“He’s right,” Setka said, “as much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. While this could have been avoided if Lance hadn’t shot him, this isn’t really anyone’s fault.”

 

There was a silence. Setka was right.

 

“Myrna,” Kestrel said, “let him go.”

 

Myrna unceremoniously dropped Lance. Hunk helped stand up. Lance straightened his collar and fixed his shirt. Myrna backed up and sat next to Keith, but she was still had that murderous look.

 

Allura turned to Setka. “Like I said yesterday, any punishment that you decide to put upon us we will accept. It is still partially our fault that this happened even if we didn’t fire that shot.”

 

“Like I said yesterday,” Setka said as he turned to Keith, “it’s you who was affected; it’s you who should decide what it is. It’s more of a formality than anything, but it has to be done.”

 

Keith thought about it for a few moments, then a small smirk appeared on his face. The paladins were slightly afraid.

 

“Tremk,” he simply said.

 

The paladins exchanged confused glances, while Allura and Coran shared a knowing look. 

 

“What is that?” Lance asked, slightly afraid of the answer he might get.

 

“It is an Altean form of training,” Allura answered. “Tremk translates to ‘ultimate training’, it was an important ritual. It was also considered a rite of passage.”

 

“Well, you’re about to,” Setka said. “It’ll start first thing in the morning. I’ll get everything ready overnight.”

 

“If you need anything,” Coran said, “we probably have it in the castle.”

 

“Thank you, I’ll make sure to contact you.”

 

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Seiran said politely. “Keith still needs to rest. You’ll see him later or tomorrow, but for now he needs to get the anesthetic out of his system.” She may not be a doctor, but she hung out around enough of them to know a few things about medicine. 

 

“We understand,” Allura said. “We’ll see ourselves out.”

 

“Do you need a hand getting back?” Setka asked. 

 

“We’ll be alright,” Allura replied. She turned to Keith, “we look forward to working with you.”

 

Keith nodded in response.

 

As soon as the Voltron crew were out of sight, the atmosphere in the room deflated. Keith, Myrna and Kestrel collapsed into the bed,, while Setka took his head in his hand and Seiran put her hand on her chest. All five released a single, synchronised sigh. 

 

“That could’ve gone better,” Kestrel said flatly.

 

“Tell me about it,” Keith replied, his voice equally as flat.

 

“It could have been much worse tough,” Seiran said.

 

“It also could have gone better,” Setka replied.

 

“I have to say though Keith,” Kestrel laughed a little, “Tremk is a genius idea.”

 

“We’ve all suffered through it,” Keith reasoned, “so should they if they want to call themselves paladins.”

 

“I can’t wait to kick their asses,” Myrna said with more enthusiasm than she probably should.

 

“Quiznack, me too,” Kestrel replied.

 

“Don’t kill them,” Setka said. “Please.”

 

“We’ll try,” Kestrel and Myrna replied at the same time.

 

“So Keith,” Setka declared, “do you want to rest here or at home with us?”

 

“Home, if I don’t fall asleep by the time I get discharged,” he replied.

 

“Ha, yeah,” Setka said. “I’ll find someone who can do a final check and get you discharged, I’ll be right back.”

 

“Can’t you do it yourself?” Seiran asked. “You worked on his case.”

 

“Yeah, but I’m not allowed to work today, so I can’t even do that. I’ll be back in a tick.” 

 

Setka came back quickly with the main pediatrics doctor, who’d initially been in charge of Keith’s case. After a final check and a round of questions, Keith was discharged.

 

Within half an hour, they were all back home. Keith had fallen asleep in the car, and not wanting to interrupt his rest, Setka carried him to the guest room. He was very lightweight, which made Setka very nervous. No Siong would go malnourished for as long as he lived, that was something he’d promised himself years ago. He tucked Keith in, then went to retrieve Kili from Kiral.

 

Three hours later, Myrna came back from her shift. She and Seiran went out to get the ingredients for supper and Kohler dropped by on his way home. 

 

Setka told him how it had gone. They both agreed it could have gone better, but at least no one had been hurt. Kohler even got a good laugh out of the upcoming Tremk. The subject of conversation eventually changed to talk about Larg’an affairs and paperwork.

 

-

 

Keith woke up refreshed. It was probably the best sleep he’d had in a few months. The anesthetic had worn off and the fog had cleared.

 

It took him a moment to realise he was at his uncle’s house. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and headed out. The house was mostly quiet. He could vaguely hear someone in the kitchen, so he went there. He saw his uncle and a Galra sitting at the table.

 

“Hey,” he said.

 

“How are you feeling?” his uncle asked him.

 

“Great, actually,” he replied. 

 

“That’s fantastic, the girls went out for groceries, but there’s some purfins if you’re hungry.”

 

“Yeah, I’ll have some of those.”

 

Leith seated himself at the table after taking out the box of freshly made purfins. 

 

“It’s good to see you awake, Keith,” Kohler told him.

 

Keith took a bite from a purfin as an excuse to not immediately answer to try and remember who that Galra was. He’d seen him with his uncle before, he just couldn’t for the life of him remember his name. The uniform he wore placed him as a commander, but which one? The rebellion had so many of them, he couldn’t tell which one he was. He noticed the scars around the commander’s hands and wrists and it clicked. This was Commander Kohler, oldest and most loyal friend of the family.

 

“It’s good to be awake,” Keith replied after swallowing the purfin and as he reached for another one. 

 

“I was thinking of inviting the paladins of Voltron to my house for supper tomorrow night, what do you say?” Kohler asked.

 

Another bite of a purfin. “It sounds alright.”

 

“Good,” Kohler nodded, also reaching for a purfin. “I figured it would be a chance for you all to interact on neutral ground and get to know each other.”

 

Keith nodded in agreement. It was a pretty good idea. “Where’s Red?” he asked.

 

Kohler gave him a confused look before Keith corrected himself. “My ship.”

 

“Oh, it’s in hangar 5. We originally had it taken in for repairs, but it healed itself.”

 

“Yeah, she does that,” Keith shrugged.

 

Setka and Kohler exchanged a confused look. 

 

Keith looked over at Setka. “Can I go see her? All of the things I brought with me are with her.”

 

“Sure,” Setka replied, trying to remain unfazed by the way he called his ship. “If you’re feeling up for it, I can drive you down there right now.”

 

“Yeah, that’d be great.”

 

“Alright then,” Setka declared. “Let’s head out.”

 

They left the house, Kohler leaving with them, but heading into his own car.

 

They drive down to the hangar was quiet, neither the driver or the passenger felt like talking. The radio blasted some song or another and Keith had rolled down the window.

 

It wasn’t long until they reached the hangar. It was still busy despite the time it was, though they got in without any problems. Despite the hangar’s size, they had a little trouble finding the Red Lion. It wasn’t the biggest ship in the hangar, but it wasn’t the smallest either.

 

As they approached it, it seemed to be sleeping. Though as soon as Keith drew close, it “woke up” and walked toward him before opening its mouth to let him inside. Setka was completely speechless. He’d heard the stories of Voltron, but never imagined he’d ever be this close to one of the Lions.

 

“I’ll be right back,” Keith said before hopping on board.

 

The inside of the lion was quiet, the only sound that could be heard were Keith’s footsteps and the barely audible purr of the engines.

 

It felt like coming home. He found it a little ironic that he felt more at home inside of a ship he’d stolen (that belonged to him, that had called out to him) than he’d felt in the years passed in central command.

 

He gave a little pat to the controls. “Thanks for bringing us here,” he said as Red huffed in response. It sounded like she was saying “of course I did.” 

 

He then got to work on gathering all of his things that had been thrown around the cockpit during the crash. Thankfully, most of it had still been in the bag he’d used to carry it. His radio had been smashed against something, probably the ceiling, he decided after seeing the slight dent there, and was completely unusable. He shoved it in his bag, making a note to safely dispose of it later.

 

He hopped out of Red, promising to be back tomorrow.

 

He joined Setka, who’d been joined by two of the paladins. It was the big one and the small one, he hadn’t had the chance to learn their names. At least the blue one wasn’t here, he wasn’t sure if he could deal with that one right now.

 

“Hey,” the big one said, smiling brightly and waving one of his hands.

 

“Hey,” Keith replied, a little confused. He looked at his uncle. He didn’t seem tense or worried at all. That in itself was a reassuring, so Keith allowed himself to relax a little.

 

“Keith, right?” the big one continued. “It’s nice to meet you, and you know, not be at the risk of death.”

 

Keith smiled at that. His family had a tendency to be overprotective of anyone related to them. “It’s nice to meet you too, um,” he didn’t know any of their names aside from Allura.

 

“The big guy’s Hunk,” the small one said, “I’m Pidge.”

 

Keith nodded. 

 

“What are you doing here?” Keith asked them. 

 

“We were helping out with some damaged ships and when we learnt that the Red Lion was in this hangar we decided to come check it out,” Pidge shrugged. “Then we ran into Setka.”

 

“What are you two doing here?” Hunk asked.

 

“Came to get my stuff,” Keith lifted the strap of his bag. “It was left in Red when I crashed.”

 

Pidge looked over Keith and at Red. He felt weirdly protective of Red and was immediately suspicious of the small one. “Is the damage she received repared?” 

 

Keith was now less suspicious. “Yeah, she’s fine,” he glanced back at Red, “a few dents here and there, but otherwise all of the damage is gone.”

 

“How extensive was it?” Hunk asked.

 

“Well,” Keith saw in the corner of his eye that Setka had received a call and walked a little bit away, though he was still in sight. “Back hydraulics were fried and the flight system was jumbled. I had almost no control; she did most of the steering for awhile.”

 

Both Pidge and Hunk looked horrified. “It’s amazing you were able to land here,” Pidge said in awe.

 

“Land is a harsh word,” Keith cringed.

 

“Well, you did still pilot it and keep your cool during all that, which is amazing in it of itself,” Hunk added.

 

Keith only nodded, not wanting them to know that he’d been terrified during the few hours he’d been flying out of control.

 

Setka walked back toward them. “We should get going,” he told Keith, “the girls are back at home and looking for us.”

 

Keith nodded. “I’ll see you around,” he turned to Hunk and Pidge.

 

“Yeah, see ya,” Hunk waved.

 

“First thing in the morning we’ll come get you,” Setka told them. “Be ready.”

 

Hunk and Pidge gulped. They were definitely not ready for whatever Tremk actually consisted of. The only information they’d gotten out of Allura and Coran were worrying smiles.

 

By the time they returned to the house, supper was almost ready. Kiral was there as well, they’d practically been living with them for months, but they were currently moving in. 

 

Myrna shoved a phone into his hands. “Call auntie Roma,” she simply said.

 

He did just that, his heart beating fast as he waited for her to pick up. 

 

“Hello?” he hadn’t heard his mother’s voice in a long time, and it felt great to hear her.

 

“Hey mom,” he said, smiling.

 

A small gasp. “Keith! How are you doing baby?”

 

“I feel great, actually,” he replied. “The anesthetic from the pod wore off pretty quickly, thankfully.” 

 

“That’s great! I’m so glad you’re alright. You scared me there for a good minute. How are things with Setka?”

 

“Everything’s alright here. Myrna did almost kill someone earlier though.”

 

“She did? That does sound like her, but why?”

 

“The Blue paladin of Voltron is the reason I almost died. She was pretty pissed at him.”

 

“Understandably so if he wasn’t a paladin he’d be dead by now, for sure.”

 

“I think she would’ve killed him regardless if it wasn’t for Setka.”

 

“Yea, probably. How are things at home?”

 

“The usual,” she replied as a scream could be heard in the background. “How about on your end? What kind of punishment did you choose for the paladins?”

 

“Tremk,” Keith said. He could see his mother’s grin from here. 

 

There was a pause. 

 

“What will you do afterwards?” His mother asked.

 

“I-” Keith hesitated before lowering his voice. “I don’t know. If I join them I can actually do something to help. I’ll be on the front lines and helping in the fight against Zarkon but-”

 

“But you want to come home,” his mother finished.

 

“Yeah,” Keith’s throat was dry all of a sudden.

 

“No matter which you choose, I’ll support you,” he could almost feel the warmth oozing from her voice. “Remember that no matter what, I’m always just a phone call or text message away.”

 

He heard Myrna calling for him.

 

“I have to go,” he said. “I’ll call again later?”

 

“I’ll be waiting. Love you.”

 

“Love you too.”

 

He hung up, wiped away some tears and went to join the others for supper. 

 

They’d made some of his favorite foods, which were amazing after having eaten only dry food since he’d escaped from central command.

 

They all went to sleep directly after supper, knowing they’d have to be up early the next day.

 

It would be an interesting day, that was certain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time:  
> “Gather around everybody,” Setka declared, feeling more like a school teacher than a Tremk organizer, “we’ll start off with some warm-ups and then we’ll move onto the Tremk itself. Now, I know that for most of you this is your first Tremk but as long as you follow my instructions you should make it out of this alive.”


	13. Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me a lot of trouble and I ended up having to rewrite it a few times. I'm still not completely happy with where it is, but I decided to post it anyway becuase I'm happy enough with it that it's worthy to be posted.   
> Enjoy!

Keith woke up half an hour before dawn, habit he’d taken up at the academy. He joined everyone else in the kitchen, where they were all in different states of alertness. Myrna was wide awake, cooking breakfast. Setka and Kestrel, meanwhile, were both downing what Keith could only assume was at least their second or third cup of coffee. 

 

Today was going to be interesting, to say the least.

 

-

 

Allura and Coran had made sure that everyone was awake extremely early. Tremk, while it was training, was also an Altean tradition among soldiers and noble families. It was important that they stick to tradition.

 

“Is waking up crazy early part of tradition?” Lance asked, half asleep. 

 

“Actually,” Coran said, his tone way too happy for what was happening, “it is. There are preparations to be made, even before Tremk itself begins. Before you can even put on your armour, there are things to do.”

 

A communal groan came from the paladins. 

 

“First though, you must eat.” Coran gave them all plates and there was a communal scream from the paladins. It was actual food. It was not food goo. And it tasted decent. A miracle coming from Coran. They loved him, they really did, but his cooking left much to be desired.

 

They ate up and as they did, Coran and Allura gave them a crash course lesson on what Tremk consisted of.

 

It was a ritual of sorts, done right before a soldier (or a group of soldiers) was to go off to war or before a child of a noble family entered adulthood. It was a harsh day of “ultimate training,” capped off with a feast and a celebration. 

 

The way the participants were dressed was also important. They had to wear the armour of their homeworld, though the paladin uniform would do. However before they put it on, there were things to be done. There was a cleaning ritual; Coran would guide the boys through it, while Allura would take care of Pidge. 

 

The cleansing itself was fairly quick, but Allura found herself at a roadblock when it came to the hairdo. By tradition, any hair longer than the participants hand, from middle finger to wrist, had to be tied back. 

 

“Does the tradition include the torture of my scalp?” Pidge asked as Allura tried to brush back her hair.

 

“Not usually no,” Allura answered as she freed the brush from the literal mop that was Pidge’s hair. “It just has to be tied back. When was the last time you brushed your hair?”

 

Pidge shrugged. Allura gave out a defeated sigh.

 

Eventually, Allura managed to tame Pidge’s hair into two traditional braids. They were short, but if it had stayed in a ponytail, it likely would have come undone during Tremk, which was a sign of bad luck, not to mention that it would be inconvenient to out the hair back in place in the middle of the day.

 

Lance and Shiro didn’t have to do anything to their hair, but Hunk’s had been braided back as well. They then put on their paladin uniforms, taking their time to put it on, wondering just how many other paladins had done this before them.

 

Allura and Coran had done the same preparations as them, knowing that would participate in the Tremk as well. 

 

They found Kohler waiting for them. He took a moment to look them over before inviting them all into the car. Before anyone asked, he told them that the others were already on the training ground and were waiting for them.

 

After a tense, fifteen minute drive, they arrived there. It was a training deck, pretty similar to the one in the castle. 

 

The paladins were led into it by Kohler. As he let them in, he simply said “good luck.” That didn’t reassure any of them one bit. 

 

The room was empty. There was an odd, slick liquid covering the entirety of the ground. It was everywhere, and they couldn’t figure out what it was. Allura and Coran realised this Tremk would much, much different than any other they’d participated in.

 

“Be careful everyone,” Shiro declared. “I don’t like this at all.”

 

“Neither do I,” Hunk said.

 

Lance could have sworn he saw some of the liquid move. The others told him it was just a figment of his imagination.

 

For about five minutes, nothing happened. 

 

“Are we here early?” Pidge asked. 

 

“Maybe,” Hunk replied. He’d sheathed his bayard, feeling more at ease despite the liquid covering the ground. It was a very pretty purple, if anything.

 

The paladins had spread out in the room, all having different levels of alertness. Shiro, Allura and Coran were still on high alert, cautiously walking in the liquid. Coran had a feeling he knew what it was, and if he was right, something could pop out of it at any moment. Pidge, and Hunk stayed close to each other, while Lance was further away from the group. 

 

-

 

Keith, Kestrel and Myrna were in the arena long before the paladins were. Setka was there as well, but he was in the observation platform, watching from above. When the paladins entered, he made the glass look like the walls around it. On his map, he could track the locations of everyone inside.

 

The Splati had been Kiral’s idea at breakfast that morning and they’d been declared a genius. It was a perfect way to test the paladin’s skills. He watched as some of the paladins became more at ease, while the two Alteans and the black paladin remained on high guard. He watched on his map as a red marker approached the blue one, Lance, if Setka remembered correctly. He resisted the urge to rub his hands together in anticipation, but did anyway since no one was watching. This was going to be fun.

 

Keith had loved Kiral’s idea and had been the first to agree with it. They could work with Splati, since they were Altean, they could shift and take advantage of it. He, Myrna and Kestrel had been together when the paladins had walked in, initially planning to attack head on, but upon seeing them on such high alert, they’d decided to wait, much to Keith’s dismay. So, they waited for their guards to be down. The paladins had separated into three groups, which was perfect for them. 

 

Keith went after Lance, Myrna after hunk and Pidge and Kestrel, the most talent of them all in battle, went after Shiro, Allura and Coran.

 

They waited and decided to attack one at a time, if only to have a bit more fun than attacking them all at once.

 

Keith attacked first, since Lance was alone. When no one was looking his way, Keith popped out of the splati, grabbed Lance’s collar and pulled him down to the ground, making him fall. Keith shifted back into the splati without being seen. 

 

Lance shrieked as he hit the ground and everyone turned to him. Hunk ran and helped him up. “Are you alright, what happened?” 

 

“Something grabbed me!” Lance said as he got back up. 

 

Pidge laughed. “The floor is slippery, you probably just slipped.”

 

“No, I swear! Something grabbed me!”

 

“Watch your step, Lance,” Shiro said, still across the room. 

 

Myrna enjoyed every second of this. Watching the one responsible for Keith’s injuries get told like that was satisfying. She’d been against participating in the Tremk, but Keith had proven in a fight that morning that he’d be able to keep up. She’d made him promise that if he ever didn’t feel well, he had to pull back immediately. 

 

She watched as Keith and Myrna turned slowly in circles around Pidge, Hunk and Lance. It was happening now. She approached Shiro, the one whose stance was the most open and waited. 

 

At the signal (given by Setka, who had watched everything from above) all three pounced on the paladins. 

 

Keith attacked Lance again, this time he didn't go easy on him. He didn’t aim to kill; no one did that during a Tremk, but he knocked him to the ground and he fell into a hole that opened up in the floor, screaming on the way down. Myrna had already taken care of Hunk, so Keith tripped Pidge to help her out. Before the hole that had opened up to retrieve Pidge closed, Myrna and Keith had shifted back into the splati. It had lasted just a few seconds, not enough for Shiro, Allura and Coran to see what had happened to their companions.

 

“Princess,” Coran said, “I believe this is splati.” 

 

“This is bad,” Allura said. “I don’t remember what a splatyan looks like.”

 

“Neither do I,” Coran replied. 

 

“What’s splati?” Shiro asked.

 

Before he could get his answer, they were attacked. Though their attackers had the element of surprise, they’d been ready. They recognised their attackers as Keith, Myrna and Kestrel. They were organised and clearly used to fighting together. Allura and Coran had more experience and knew what to expect of an Altean fighting style, and Shiro was backing them up. 

 

Kestrel was the main force of the attacking trio, Myrna being more of a supportive role with her magic. Keith was the wild card, and would probably rival Kestrel in a few years. 

 

Coran took advantage of Myrna’s support role and took her out quickly. The ground swallowed her up and she ended up where the other paladins were. “Hey,” she told them. “Hey,” they replied, confused.

 

Keith ended up against Coran. Coran was experienced and a trained bodyguard. This wasn’t his first Tremk by far, Keith knew that. Keith also wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. Coran didn’t like having to fight against what he considered a child, so he decided he would end this quickly. Keith was still a little injured, so he shouldn’t be too hard to take down, though Coran knew better than underestimating an opponent. The point of a Tremk wasn’t to injure, but to incapacitate. The arena had likely been programmed to open up when someone had been on the floor long enough, so that was all Coran had to do. Easier said than done.

 

Keith knew he didn’t stand much of a chance against this guy, but he wouldn’t go down without a fight. He could tell that Coran wasn’t giving it his all and that just pissed him off. Somehow, Keith managed to get Coran to the ground, though Coran brought him down with him. They both fell under the arena. As they fell, Coran grabbed Keith in such a way that he wouldn’t get during the landing.

 

“Good to see you,” Myrna said casually.

 

She and the paladins were sitting in a circle, the only thing missing was coffee or tea.

 

“So it’s two against one up there huh?” Lance said. “My money’s on Shiro.”

 

Almost on cue, Shiro fell through the ceiling. 

 

“My money’s on Allura,” Lance corrected himself. 

 

Above, Kestrel and Allura fought. It was a close match, but both were well trained in hand-in-hand combat. 

 

“You know what,” Kestrel said after they both realised they were equally matched. “Let’s call this a tie.”

 

“I agree,” Allura said, putting her hands down. “I must say, you’re quite good.”

 

“Thank you, you’re pretty good too.” 

 

Kestrel shifted from a splatyan back to her Altean form, where Allura saw that her hair had been styled in manner pretty similar to Pidge, though hers looked much neater. Her hair was also blue now, while it had been purple the day before. It accentuated her purple and blue eyes as well the red marks on her cheeks. She was very pretty.

 

Setka made the platform visible again and called everyone back from under the arena. He joined them all on the floor.

“This was a test to see how you reacted when you were attacked by surprise,” Setka declared. “I’m disappointed in some,” he looked mainly at Lance, “but pleasantly surprised with the others.”

 

Myrna and Keith shook off the spalti and shifted back to being Altean.

 

“Now that we’re done with that, we can start the Tremk itself,” Setka continued.

 

“Wait,” Lance said, “so you mean that wasn’t actually part of it?”

 

“Not at all!” Setka’s smile was a little unnerving. 

 

“I’ll be in the platform over there observing everything and giving directions. Kestrel, Myrna you’re staying here and giving an example. Keith, you’re up there with me for now. First though, I’m going to need a few minutes to get all of the splati off the floor, so take that time to relax a little.”

 

The paladins and the Siongs assembled outside of the training deck. The paladins took a moment to see if the others had also done the pre-Tremk ritual. From what tey could tell, they hadn’t been spared from the hairdos either.

 

Keith had two tiny pigtails instead of his mullet, Kestrel’s short hair was held back with braids and bobby pins, while Myrna’s long hair had been braided back in a style similar to Allura’s.

 

“Gather around everybody,” Setka declared once he’d cleared out the splati and everyone was back in the arena, feeling more like a school teacher than a Tremk organizer, “we’ll start off with some warm-ups and then we’ll move onto the Tremk itself. Now, I know that for most of you this is your first Tremk but as long as you follow my instructions you should make it out of this alive.”

 

The paladins gulped, but saw that for some reason, all of the others were excited. 

 

“Let’s start with some warm ups and stretches,” Setka clapped his hands. “Do what I do.”

 

It felt a little like gym class, doing the stretches. However, they knew that after the stretches were the worst part. 

 

Pidge got flashbacks from the 2,4 km run she had to do at the start of every year in high school, though the beep and cooper tests were also high on the high school gym torture list.

 

Up next was a sparring session. Keith was forced by Setka to sit out of it, which Keith didn’t appreciate, but understood the reasons why. Everyone was paired together. Lace was against Allura, Hunk against Coran, Pidge against Myrna and Shiro against Kestrel. The one who came closest to beating their opponent was Pidge. Lance, Hunk and Shiro not standing much of a chance against their opponents.

 

Then there was a team building exercise similar to the one Allura had made them do. This one, Keith participated in as it shouldn’t be too bad on him. All they had to do was to stand in a circle, shields up and protecting the other before protecting themselves. Setka had put in that exercise at Coran’s request, to get the paladins used to work together, should Keith join them. 

 

Tremk events came one after another, with no breaks in between for a solid four hours. 

 

When Setka announced a break, Lance, Hunk and Pidge immediately sprawled out on the ground. Shiro joined them, though he took the time to sit down. Everyone eventually sat down and formed what could vaguely be described as a circle. Setka gave out juice bags and some light food. 

 

The hour long break was a sweet moment, where idle chatter filled the air and all differences were set aside.

 

At the end of the break, Setka announced that there would only be two more Tremk events. The first one, they would have to work together to defeat a training droid of a previously decided difficulty, though they wouldn’t know what difficulty it would be set on.

 

“Keith,” Setka said, “you’re with me for this.” Keith only nodded, he himself starting to feel tired and really not wanting to fight a droid. 

 

The two went up to the observation platform.

 

“What level should we put it at?” Setka asked Keith.

 

“Level ten,” Setka seemed surprised with the decently low level, “it’s the one I was at last surayn, let's see how they do. We can up the difficulty later.”

 

“Level ten it is.”

 

The paladins themselves seemed to be struggling to to beat the droid, but it was easy to tell they were used to fighting together. Even with Kestrel and Myrna added to the mix, they did surprisingly well, though Kestrel and Allura seemed to be doing most of the work.

 

“Allura and Coran aren’t officially paladins, aren’t they?” Keith asked. 

 

“No, Allura’s the leader and Coran’s her advisor.”

 

“So they normally wouldn’t fight on the ground, would they?”

 

“Probably not, no.”

 

“When we put the level up, bring them up here.”

 

“Good idea, kid.” Setka lightly ruffled Keith’s hair.

 

They took down the level ten droid quickly, and once it was down, Setka made the announcement for Myrna, Kestrel, Allura and Coran to come up to the platform. 

 

While this was a Tremk, it was also a test for the paladins. Keith and Setka agreed on a droid level before the others got to the platform, so only they would know what it was set on.

 

“Are you ready?” Setka asked the paladins through the speaker. 

 

An enthusiastic “yeah!” came from them. Keith rubbed his hands together. This was by far the best part of any Tremk in his opinion.

 

The droid came to life and moved so quickly the paladins could barely see it. Hunk fired first, but it dodged. It was faster than on any setting they’d encountered before.

 

“What’s the difficulty setting?” Allura asked, she herself having never seen a droid move that fast.

 

“Level 30,” Keith replied blankly.

 

Kestrel whistled. “Even I’m only on level 20.”

 

“Isn’t the highest level 20?” Coran asked, his eyes as wide as saucers.

 

“Twenty levels have been added in the past ten thousand years,” Setka replied. 

 

“They’re doing pretty well for the first time against a droid with that high of a level,” Keith said.

 

“Yeah, they are,” Myrna said, though right on cue, Hunk fell through the floor after protecting Pidge from a shot. “I spoke too soon.”

 

“Could you pass me the codes?” Coran asked. “I have twenty levels to add to the droids in the castle.”

 

“I can pass them to you right now, actually,” Kestrel replied as she did just that.

 

Surprisingly, when they ended the session after five minutes, Pidge and Shiro were the last ones standing. 

 

Hunk and Lance were brought back to the arena floor. 

 

Setka explained the next step. No one, not even the Alteans, looked forward to this part. This was probably the worst part of a Tremk. For the first time that day, Keith was glad he was still recovering from his injuries and didn’t have to do this. 

 

This was commonly referred to as “hell drills” and for good reasons. 30 laps around the arena. 100 push ups and sit ups. 50 prinas, which was a push up, a squat and a jump. The that was still after it was Kestrel, though she was folded over herself, catching her breath. Even Allura and Coran were sitting down, both cursing how out of shape they were. 

 

Setka declared that the next and final part would be a flight exercise.

 

“Shiro!” Lance shouted, startling everyone who wasn’t used to him shouting once in awhile. “You’ll finally be able to fly with us!”

 

“That’s right!” Allura chimed in, “with Keith here, we can finally recover the black lion.”

 

“What?” Keith asked. 

 

“The black lion was locked in the castle and the only way to unlock its hangar is if all four other lions are present,” Allura told him.

 

“I’ll meet you in the hangar you’re in,” Keith declared.

 

They separated into two groups, Setka driving the paladins to Hangar 5 while Keith, Myrna and Kestrel headed to Hangar 3.

 

They all met up in Hangar 5, where Shiro finally, finally met the black lion. This would be his first ride with her, should she accept him. She did. 

 

Flying with all of the lions together for the first time was a feeling none of them would forget.

 

The flight drills were demanding, but really fun to pull off. 

 

They hadn’t formed Voltron, but they flew as one. For the first time since it had all started, there was hope that they could make it. They could take down the Galra empire. 

 

They still had a long way to go of course, but this was a start. A start toward a bright future.

 

Should Keith join them.

 

After the flight drills, they returned to the training room for the final part of the Tremk. The paladins were expecting the most brutal of it, but the others seemed pretty relaxed.

 

Setka had grabbed a stick of some sort, though they realised it held some great importance, as even Allura straightened at the sight of it. He looked at her and handed it to her.

 

“It is a sacred Altean who should do this.”

 

“Of course.” Allura gave a small bow gracefully accepted the stick. Through a hushed whisper coming from either Coran, Kestrel, Myrna or Keith, they learnt the stick was called a Tremké. A sacred staff of sorts.

 

With another hushed whisper and by following the example of the others, the paladins kneeled and waited for what Allura was about to do.

 

“It is with honour that I stand before you today,” she started, “knowing that you have surpassed the Tremk and are now entering into a new part of your life. I, Princess Allura of Altea, give you my blessing and wish you all the best of luck with all of your future endeavours and may you come back home safely.” As she spoke, she gently tapped the top of their heads with the Tremké.

 

Once she’d put it back into its casing, the Tremk was officially over. 

 

Setka told the paladins to go rest up and that should they want to, they could join the Siong family later for “an authentic Altean feast”.

 

The paladins agreed with much enthusiasm. They were never ones to say no to food.

 

They separated, the paladins heading back to the castle while the Siongs headed back home. 

 

“Hey, wait a second,” Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist, stopping him from leaving. “I just wanted to apologise for the other day; it ultimately my fault you got hurt.”

 

Keith looked at him for a moment, before a slight smile appeared on his face and shook his head. “It’s fine.”

 

“Are you absolutely sure?” 

 

Keith nodded.

 

“Well,” Lance dramatically put both hands on his hips, “feel free to come and join us at the castle anytime. You’ll always be welcome there.”

 

“Maybe I’ll drop by later,” Keith said.

 

“Keeeeith!” a cry from Myrna came from across the room, “We’re leaving without you!”

 

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Keith screamed back, jogging toward his cousins. He wasn’t sure why he felt so warm inside after talking to Lance.

 

Hunk casually wrapped an arm around Lance and gave him a shit-eating grin. “Don’t,” Lance simply said. Hunk kept grinning.

 

The Voltron crew all took long showers and put on their best clothes. Coran dug through some of the castle’s storage rooms to find clothes suitable for the paladins, since they’d arrived at the castle with literally only the clothes on their backs.

 

After choosing the clothes they would wear later, the paladins lounged and relaxed for the rest of the day. Pidge pulled out a gamecube from somewhere, they started playing mario kart to pass the time.

 

Eventually though, they decided to go out into the town and check things out. Pidge had seen an electronics store she wanted to check out, Coran had seen some ingredients he could use and brought Hunk along with him to show him some of them, while Lance, Shiro and Allura simply went with the others.

 

-

 

Once her husband, daughter and nephew got home, Serain declared that the house needed to be thoroughly cleaned. Royalty was coming, and they should be able to to eat off the floor.

 

“Shower if you must, but as soon as the last one’s out the bathroom gets cleaned and no one uses it.” 

 

Everyone was tasked with something to do, except for Keith, Setka and Kiral. Their jobs were to get the proper ingredients for the feast.

 

Keith and Setka showered, changed out of their Lyran armour and headed out. 

 

Keith was put on Kili duty, which meant he was the one who would have to carry the baby. He didn’t mind; he’d been the official carrier of almost all of his younger cousins, it was only natural he’d carry this one as well. At least this one hadn’t started screaming as soon as he’d picked him up, unlike some of the others.

 

The list of ingredients to get was huge, and they had a game plan. They would separate to cover the most ground in the marketplace and join the others once they’d completed their part of the list. Keith had the smallest list, simply because he had Kili with him. 

 

It only took Keith about twenty minutes to find everything. He hummed for little Kili, keeping him calm and not crying. It was a little weird having a baby strapped to his chest, but he was used to it by now.

 

He went out to look for the others, wondering how far along they were in their lists. Probably nowhere near being done.

 

He found Kiral in the crowd of people. He didn’t know the Splatyan well, but he knew that they were the one Myrna was marrying, so he might as well hang out with them. They both made their way through merchant’s booths, hoping to find what they were looking for. 

 

Keith nearly had a heart attack when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He would have whirled around if not for Kili, instead, he turned his head, glaring at whoever this was.

 

It was Hunk, gently smiling at him. “Nice seeing you here!” 

 

“It’s uh, nice seeing you too,” Keith replied, unsure of what to say. “What are doing here?”

 

“Getting some ingredients with Coran,” he replied, “not sure where he went, tough. I looked away for a second and he’d disappeared into the crowd.”

 

“That happens sometimes,” Keith shrugged, looking around and realising the same thing had happened to Kiral. He swore under his breath.

 

“What’s wrong?” Hunk asked, looking genuinely concerned.

 

“Looks like both of the people we were with disappeared with the crowd.”

 

“Well, then,” Hunk declared, “we might as well stick together.”

 

Keith shrugged, seeing no problem with it. Hunk seemed like the kindest of the paladins.

 

Kili made a little noise that was absolutely adorable and Hunk cooed. “Who is is this?” he said, leaning down to see Kili better.

 

Keith but up a hand in defense of his baby cousin. “This is Kilian, but we call him Kili for short.”

 

“He’s so cute! How old is he?”

 

“He’s two.”

 

“Woah, really? He’s so small for a baby his age! Alteans must grow up slower than humans.”

 

“Probably,” Keith shrugged.

 

“That’s cool,” Hunk nodded before looking off into the crowd. “What do you say we walk around and try to find the others.”

 

“Sounds good.”

 

They wandered through the crowd without talking at first. Eventually, they started talking. Family was the first subject that came up, mostly because of Kili. He told Hunk about Myrna and Kiral and of their upcoming wedding. Keith felt like he could talk about his family for hours, and hearing about Hunk’s family was amazing. The difference in culture was something that had always fascinated him, he assumed it had something to do with growing up around so many cultures.

 

The first person they ran into was Shiro, who was keeping his surveillance between Pidge, who was at an electronics booth looking like she was about to buy everything the merchant had to offer, and Lance, who was flirting with any female passing alien. There was a look of pain in Shiro’s eyes.

 

He glanced between Hunk, Keith and Kili. 

 

“I lost Coran,” Hunk explained, “he lost Kiral.”

 

“Kiral?” Shiro raised an eyebrow.

 

“Myrna’s fiancée,” Keith explained. 

 

“I saw Coran about ten minutes ago,” Shiro said. “He was looking for you.”

 

Kili decided at that moment that it would be a great time to start crying. Keith asked Hunk to take the grocery bag, though Shiro took it. 

 

Keith took Kili from the baby holder and rocked him back and forth and hummed what sounded like a lullaby. Kili calmed down within a few minutes. 

 

Hunk and Shiro exchanged glances, both smiling warmly. 

 

Kili was now making bubbly noises and his little arms reached up to Keith. Hunk cooed, and so did a few passerbys. It truly was an absolutely adorable sight.

 

Pidge joined them as Keith put Kili back into the baby carrier. Pidge had only bought, much to Shiro’s relief, only a few things. She excitedly told them about what it did and what she could do with it. 

 

It took her a moment to see Keith, and another to see Kili.

 

“Wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she said. 

 

Keith nodded. This seemed to be a common thing today.

 

Lance joined them then, a slight red mark on his cheek. He casually wrapped an arm around Keith, who immediately removed it and took a few steps to the side. He seemed to have no respect for personal space. Hunk gave a sympathetic look.

 

“What are we all standing here for?” Lance asked, unphased by what had just happened.

 

“I lost Coran,” Hunk replied, “he lost Kiral, Myrna’s fiancée, so we stayed together and ran into Shiro.”

 

“What do you want to do now?” Shiro asked.

 

“We can head back,” Lance shrugged. “We can give Keith a tour of the castle.”

 

“I have things to do,” Keith said. 

 

Someone grabbed Keith’s shoulder and he tensed. 

 

“There you are!” a relieved Kiral said, “I’ve been looking for you everywhere! I looked away for a second and you were gone! I was so worried!”

 

“Good to see you too, Kiral,” Keith replied, casually removing the hand from his shoulder. 

 

“I got everything, have you seen Setka?” Kiral asked. Keith shook his head.

 

Sighing and seemingly having not noticed the paladins, Kiral took out their phone and called Setka. He’d been looking for them and they decided they would meet at the car, since it was nearly impossible to find each other in this crowd. 

 

Keith and Kiral (and Kili) said goodbye to the paladins, saying they would see the others later.

 

The chaos truly began when they got home and the ingredients were delivered to Seiran. 

 

Anyone that wasn’t cleaning was cooking. Music was blaring and while it was chaotic, it was fun and they were enjoying themselves. Keith felt like he was back on Lyra during one of the surayns of his childhood. It felt like home, almost. All that was missing was the rest of his family. 

 

-

 

After Keith and Kiral left them, the paladins decided to stay together and find the others. They found Coran in a mechanic shop and Alura at an antique booth.

 

They returned to the castle and started getting ready for the feast. Once again, Pidge’s poor scalp was tortured by Allura, though it wasn’t as bad as that morning.

 

They were well dressed, but kept a casual vibe about it all. Lance declared they were space ambassadors, which was technically true. This was, without much of a doubt, the first step toward an alliance with the rebellion. Their primary focus tonight though, was Keith. Without him, they couldn’t form Voltron. They couldn’t be as effective as they could be. They couldn’t save the universe from Zarkon.

 

They were ready for Setka to come pick them up, which should be any minute now.

 

Keith collapsed onto the nearest couch, tired from having done so much cleaning and cooking in so little time. For the past few hours, he’d been ducking under pots and pans, doing the splits with a broom, nearly tripping on wet floors, dusting any and all surfaces that could possibly have dust on it and more. No one was spared from The Clean. No one. Except maybe Kili because he was two years old.

 

He’d been spared from most of it by Setka’s orders, since he was still recovering from his injuries, but he’d still helped out. 

 

The entire family eventually joined him, taking a break before changing into clean clothes and letting the paladins in. 

 

Kohler came by at that moment, bringing some of his own food. The Siongs decided then would be a good time to change and start the final preparations. Kohler volunteered to pick up the paladins. His offer was graciously accepted. 

 

-

 

Twenty minutes later, the paladins, Coran and Allura arrived at the Siong house. There was Altean music playing, and Allura almost cried hearing it. It was the songs she’d grown up to. 

 

The first hour was spent in the living room, with Seiran bouncing back and forth between there and the kitchen, making sure everything was cooking properly. 

 

Kestrel felt starstruck when she saw Allura. Her little heart was overwhelmed with the ethereal woman in her house and of course, she took her chance. She wasn’t sure if Allura was catching on her intentions, but at least she wasn’t stuttering with every other word. Keith and Myrna shared a look, both familiar with Kestrel’s habit of flirting with pretty girls. 

 

Setka, Coran, Hunk and Pidge struck up a conversation about mechanics, while Kohler saved Allura from Kestrel by joining the two and changing the topic of conversation. 

 

Keith, Kiral, Lance and Myrna talked about anything that came to mind, really. They all came from different fields of work and didn’t have much in common between them, but family was something they all had and could talk about for hours.

 

When the food was ready, they moved on to the kitchen and Kestel went to get Kili, who had been sleeping in the nursery, so he could eat with them. 

 

Allura was the first to see the two year old and froze. 

 

“Is that..?” she wondered aloud.

 

Myrna nodded, beaming. “This is my little brother, Kilian! Kili for short though.”

 

“He’s Altean?” 

 

“Indeed he is!”

 

“Can… Can I hold him?” Allura said, trying to stop her voice from shaking too much.

 

“Of course, just be careful.” Myrna transferred Kili into Allura’s arms.

 

She rocked the baby back and forth, trying not to cry. It was wonderful. The Altean race had survived through more than she could imagine, and she felt like Kili was the symbol of their resilience, of their will to survive. Despite the odds being stacked against them, Alteans had not only survived, but thrived. Coran approached her, feeling exactly what she was feeling. When he took Kili into his arms, he did cry and had to pass him on to Keith because he feared that he would drop him otherwise. 

 

The Siongs didn’t say anything, knowing exactly what they were going through, as they were Altean as well.

 

Food was served. For the paladins, it was some of the best food they’d had in awhile. For the Siongs and Kohler, it was the food they ate everyday. For Allura, Coran and Keith, the food was like coming home.

 

They talked about the rebellion and a possible alliance between them and Voltron. Kohler was all for it, but he would arrange a meeting between the paladins and the rebellion’s leaders.

 

“There isn’t much of a need for that though is there?” Keith said after Kohler’s declaration. “I’m sure mom and the others would have absolutely no problem with it and the reunion would last a grand total of a few ticks.”

 

“I’m sure as well,” Kohler shrugged, “but formalities are formalities.”

 

“Woah wait,” Hunk said, almost dropping his spork “your mom is one of the leaders of the rebellion?”

 

Keith stood up straighter, a proud smile on his face. “My mom is the leader of the rebellion.”

 

A collective “oh” came from the paladins.

 

There was stunned silence. In Allura’s eyes, this changed everything. Getting on Keith’s good side didn’t only mean gaining a paladin, it meant an alliance with the rebellion.

 

She realised how lucky they were to have not been declared enemies of the rebellion when Keith had been injured. She was sure that if he had died, they would have been. She was glad he’d survived and that they’d played a role in getting the pods back online so he could survive.

 

“Yeah, that’s something we haven’t mentioned, have we?” Kestrel said. 

 

“Not at all,” Allura confirmed, recovering her composure.

 

“Auntie Roma’s the leader of the rebellion. She’s at the head of every decision that’s made.”

 

“What’s her name?” Lance asked.

 

“Romelle,” Kestrel said, “she’s married with children.” She looked directly at Lance when she said that last part.

 

Allura, for the third time in the past hour, froze. It couldn’t possibly the Romelle she was thinking of. That Romelle had died along with Altea, right? She made a note of asking to see a picture later. 

 

“Our family is the one that started the rebellion after Altea was destroyed,” Setka said, starting on what was going to be probably the most interesting history lesson ever. “At first, the surviving Alteans didn’t know what to do and focused on survival. It was difficult, since most of the survivors were civilians and had little or no training, military or otherwise. Eventually, after they learnt again how their technology worked, they began to organise what would become the rebellion. They built bases all around the galaxy, hidden in plain sight, away from the eyes of the empire. We organised and eventually became the rebellion we are today. The Siongs had been at the head of the survivors, so it was only natural that they would lead the rebellion.”

 

“So one family’s been at the head of your government for ten thousand years?” Pidge asked.

 

“I guess?” Setka shrugged. “I get a feeling we have a very different definition of government than yours. There’s someone else in charge of all of the laws, if that’s what you’re saying.”

 

Pidge nodded, approving. “Is it like that here in Larg’an as well?”

 

“Yes, I’m only in charge of Rebellion affairs,” Kohler said. “Though this is a rebellion base, there’s still more civilians than military.”

 

“Now now everyone,” Seiran declared, “you know the rule about political talk at the table. There’s none of it until the coffee comes out.”

 

“Sorry,” Setka, Kohler, Kestrel, Myran and Keith said a once. Even Kili babbled something that could have been understood as “sorry”.

 

The conversation switched to something else. People mainly conversed with the people next to them. Keith was glad he was next to Hunk. He seemed to be the most approachable of the paladins. Pidge was talking with them as well. Eventually, all of the paladins were talking together and Keith decided they weren’t all that bad. They weren’t forcing him to talk and participate, and when he did, they seemed to be truly listening and paying attention. It was a nice change of pace from the central command flight academy. 

 

By the time it was time for dessert, he decided that it wouldn’t be that bad to join them. He could do it, he thought, he could join and help them. 

 

He could be a paladin of Voltron.

 

After coffee and a lot of talking, the paladins returned to the castle. Keith was invited to come by tomorrow, and he said he’d think about it, though he knew he would drop by no matter what.

 

The next morning, Keith slept in, and so did most of the Siongs. Setka and Myrna had taken off from work, so they would be at home all day.

 

After a frugal brunch (he’d woken up too late for it to be considered breakfast), he decided he should head out to the castle. Kestrel insisted on coming with him, and Keith let her come, since she could drive them there.

 

“You’re coming because of Allura, aren’t you,” Keith deadpanned.

 

“You see right through me, little cousin,” she replied nonchalantly.

 

Keith sighed, and Kestrel felt like she had to defend herself. “Ok, I know, but have you seen her? She’s literally the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”

 

Keith sighed again, shaking his head. Kestrel muttered something under her breath

 

To break the broody silence of the car, Keith turned up the radio and the song that was on was damn catchy. They both bopped their heads to it, singing any lyrics they knew, whether they were right or wrong.

 

They reached the castle, parking the car right by it. The paladins had accepted that the hangar door stay closed so they wouldn't have to use the airlock, but also because they trusted the rebellion.

 

“How do we get in?” Kestrel asked, looking up to try to see the top of the castle of Lions that she’d heard stories of when she was little. 

 

“The front door is right there,” Keith said.

 

“I mean, are we allowed to just barge in?”

 

In the command room of the castle, Allura saw on the camera that there was movement by the main gate. She saw it was Keith and Kestrel. She opened the gate and went to meet them in the main hall.

 

The main door opened and Keith and Kestrel stepped inside. They met Allura in a giant room that had stairs on either side of it. She was clearly glad to see them come by. She led them to what they called the common room. Most of the paladins were there already. 

 

Pidge was sitting on the floor, folded over her computer with ridiculously big headphones, typing away. Hunk was eating, and Keith nearly had a heart attack seeing someone eat while not at the table. The look on Kestrel’s face said the same. 

 

Shiro was lounging, a warm cup something in his hands. Lance was nowhere to be seen, but Keith didn’t mind that so much. He wasn’t so sure how he felt about him yet, and he wasn’t sure if he was really ready to interact with him or not.

 

Shiro was the first to notice them. He greeted them by, oddly enough, raising his cup slightly. Humans were weird. 

 

It wasn’t long before Lance showed up as well, still wearing his nightclothes. By then, Keith was watching Pidge look through data Kiral had given her to see if her family was in the system. Kestrel was deep in conversation with Allura. It was obvious there was synergy between the two. 

 

“What’s happening here?” Lance asked, drinking a sip of his hot chocolate.

 

“We have visitors,” Hunk said. 

 

“You could have told me,” Lance said. “I would’ve dressed better.”

 

“You could have just dressed,” Keith said without looking up. “It’s impolite to leave your room in night clothes if you aren’t with just our family.”

 

“Hunk and I are basically family at this point,” Lance replied. “Voltron is like my family away from my family.”

 

Keith blinked at looked at Lance, eyes as wide as saucers. How could anyone that isn’t related to you be considered family? That just didn’t make sense.

 

Lance sighed but went into the common room without going back to change. 

After a few minutes, when Shiro had finished his coffee, he looked up at the group. It was good to see the kids, that’s what he’d decided to call them, getting along so well. Keith wasn’t left out of the conversation, but wasn’t forced into it, either. It was a shame he had to break it up.

 

“Remember that even if we have a guest,” he declared, “you still have training today.”

 

Immediate complaints from the paladins. 

 

“Even after everything we had to do yesterday?” Hunk said.

 

“”Uuuuugh,” Lance flopped over Hunk’ dramatically putting his arm over his face. “Whyyy?”

 

“But Shiiirooooo,” Pidge said. 

 

“No buts,” Shiro kept his face straight, “We have to train everyday if we’re to improve.”

 

“He’s right,” Keith said, and Shiro quietly thanked him. Surely, they’d listen to Keith.

“Would you care to join us today Keith?” Allura asked. 

 

Keith seemed to think about it for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure. I’d have to go get my armour though. I left it at Setka’s.”

 

Allura smiled. “You don’t have to at all. We already have armour here for you”

 

Keith blinked. “You do?”

 

“That’s right!” Lance said, sitting straight up. 

 

“You’re the red paladin, you get your own armour,” Pidge said.

 

“Of course, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Allura said, “but it would be nice for you to try it on should you decide to join us.”

 

Keith quickly glanced at Kestrel. She gave him a small nod. 

 

“Where’s the armour?” he asked. 

 

“Come with me,” Allura said, “Everyone else, I’ll meet you in the training room in half an hour.”

 

Everyone scattered. 

 

The armour looked like it wouldn’t fit him. Perhaps if he was older and taller it would fit him. He was starting to think he was going to have to head back to Setka’s or simply sit out the training session. 

 

Much to his surprise, it fit perfectly. It was like it had been made specifically for him, to accommodate every curve and muscle. It felt more like a second skin than armour. It felt right. 

 

Allura also gave him his bayard. It was a sword. He tested it out, and it too, felt right in his hand, like it belonged there.

 

This is what it was like to be a paladin. For the first time since Allura had first approached him with the offer, he felt like he could actually be one. Like he could actually be like one of the heroes he’d heard the stories of growing up. 

 

Kestrel almost teared up when she saw her baby cousin in the armour of a paladin of Voltron. It was better than the stories she’d heard as a child. It was so much better.

 

She snuck in a picture and sent it to Myrna, who freaked out and cursed the fact she had to work today. She then told her to send that picture to Roma, so she did. There was no response yet, but she had a feeling she would freak out as well.

 

The only problem Keith found with the armour was the helmet. It was too tight for his galran ears, so he had to shift to being fully Altean for it to fit properly. Allura told him that it was something that could easily be fixed. That was good to hear.

 

Keith was ready to train with the paladins, though Kestrel reminded him to go easy, since he was still recovering.

 

The paladins assembled in the training room, looking more complete than ever. Coran had just finished up installing new programs that had been given to him by Kestrel the day before. 

 

Kestrel watched the training from the platform above, along with Coran and Allura. It was only basic exercises, the Alteans and Shrio figuring they should go more on the easy side not only because of yesterday, but also because of Keith.

 

The session went pretty well. Shiro ended it with what everyone could improve on, including Keith. Afterwards, they returned to the common room and had lunch in the dining room.

 

They spent the majority of the rest of the afternoon just hanging out and talking. 

 

“Do you think we could come by your place tomorrow?” Hunk asked.

 

“Of course,” Keith nodded. “Just give us a heads up.”

 

“No problem,” Hunk replied, gently rubbing Keith’s shoulder.

 

Keith and Kestrel left the castle late in the afternoon. 

 

“So,” Kestrel said when they were back in the car and on their way home, “that wasn’t so bad, wasn’t it?”

 

“A lot better than I thought it would be,” Keith replied, leaning into his seat.

 

“Do you know what you’re going to do?”

 

“Everyone’s asking me that,” he sighed, “but I don’t know.”

 

“You say that,” she said, turning to him as best as she could, “but the look in your eyes tell me you already know what you’re going to do.”

 

Keith’s silence was the only answer she needed, He did know what he was going to do, he just wasn’t sure if he ready to admit it to himself.

 

That night after everyone had retreated back to their rooms, Keith found himself unable to sleep. He laid awake in bed and took a long hard look at himself. He realised that Kestrel was right. He did know what he wanted to do. He just had to tell everyone.

 

He decided he would tell everyone when the time was right.

 

-

 

The next day, the paladins visited him. Allura and Coran were absolutely mesmerised by little Kili. He was an adorable baby, no one could deny that, but in Keith’s opinion, his own little sister was a cuter baby. 

 

They fell into a routine of sorts. Keith would join the paladins in their morning training, then they would hang out in the afternoon. 

 

The rebellion had given the castle of lions supplies, which much to the paladin’s relief, food. Real, actual, non food goo food. 

 

After five days of the routine, Keith got along pretty well with all of the all of the paladins, even Lance. He got along best with Hunk and Pidge, though.

 

They’d tried to have a meeting between the paladins and Romelle, but her schedule just didn’t line up with theirs. However, she promised an alliance between Voltron and the rebellion, formalities be damned.

 

On the fifth day, Keith was returning home after a day with the paladins. They were all in the main hallway.

 

“Keith,” Allura said, making him turn toward her. “I have one question to ask you.”

 

Keith knew what it was. He had always known she would ask it, he was just surprised it took her this long. 

 

“Will you join us and officially become a paladin of Voltron?”

 

Keith didn’t hesitate. He’d decided long ago.

 

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is actually completely written and I just need to give it a few final touches, so you can expect within a few days. in the mean time, here's a preview:
> 
> “We’re ready for pretty much any situation,” Kestrel grinned. “The civilians are trained to know what to do if anything happens.”
> 
>  
> 
> At that moment, there was an explosion and everything shook.


	14. Attack

The paladins, along with Keith, would be leaving Larg’an two days from now. Keith would be, as agreed, leaving with them. 

 

He was going to miss his family, but this was the right thing to do. He could do something to bring down the empire. It was going to be an adventure, to be sure. It was going to be a fun adventure. 

 

They were all in Setka’s house, playing a card game that Kestrel had introduced to them to a few days ago. It was ridiculously fun and Pidge made a mental note to bring a deck of cards back onto the castle of lions. So far, Hunk was winning and Keith was close second, while Lance was dead last and in denial about it. 

 

Suddenly, the lights went out. 

 

“What’s happened?” Lance asked. 

 

Kestrel opened up a menu of the lights in the house. “Automatic shut down,” she explained. “Happens when a Galra convoy passes too close. We shut everything that’s not mandatory down so they don’t pick up any signals from us.”

 

“Does it happen often?” Hunk asked.

 

“Once in awhile when the convoys run late they pass through this part of the system because it’s a shortcut. As soon as it’s out of range the power’ll come back.”

 

“Good to know you have a plan for situations like that,” Pidge said.

 

“We’re ready for pretty much any situation,” Kestrel grinned. “The civilians are trained to know what to do if anything happens.”

 

At that moment, there was an explosion and everything shook.

 

-

 

Kohler ordered the shutdown as soon as their sensors showed the Galra convoy. He’d immediately noticed the unusually high amount of battleships in it. That wasn’t reassuring at all. He ordered all of his fighters to be on standby and prepare for the worst. He readied the shields and was ready should anything happen. 

 

It had happened before that a convoy would pass by uncomfortably close, but it always carried on its way. However, Kohler had a bad feeling about this one. 

 

His suspicions were immediately founded when the battle ships broke off from the convoy and headed straight for them. An ion cannon charged, aimed and shot, the shields going up just in time to take the brunt of it.

 

Kohler sounded the alarm.

 

-

 

They all took a moment to recover after the shaking stopped, but weren’t given any time to as an alarm sounded.

 

Keith and Kestrel exchanged panicked looks. They knew what this alarm meant. Everyone on Larg’an, no, everyone in the rebellion knew what it meant. Everyone in the rebellion never wished to hear it. 

 

The alarm that meant they were under attack by Galra forces.

 

“All civilians please calmly evacuate to the shelters,” a robotic voice sounded between each beep of the alarm. “All military personnel head to your stations.” Another beep. “Please remain calm.” Rinse and repeat.

 

“I’ll get Kili,” Kestrel said. “Keith, go grab the emergency bags. You guys stay here.”

 

Keith ran downstairs to get the bags, while Kestrel ran upstairs to get Kili, leaving the paladins at the kitchen table, confused and afraid.

 

“Allura to paladins, come in,” their comms sounded. 

 

“We’re here princess,” Shiro replied.

 

“I want you all to head to the castle now! We need Voltron!”

 

“We’re on our way!” Shiro replied before calling Keith, who was now back in the kitchen with bags in tow.

 

Keith nodded. “Let’s go.”

 

Kestrel joined them. “I’m going to the shelter. You guys protect us, yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” Keith nodded. “This’ll be fixed by supper.”

 

“Stay safe, all of you.”

 

“We will, don’t worry about us,” Shiro said.

 

They all left the house, Keith having his own emergency bag (which was actually just the bag containing the stuff he’d left central command with) and Kestrel carrying the others. She ran toward the shelter while they ran toward the hangar. This was going to be their first real mission as paladins of Voltron.

 

They quickly put on their armour, Keith dumping his bag in the command room.

 

The were pretty sure they would never reach the lions as fast as they had at that moment.

 

The lions, along with the castle, left the hangar and joined the battle raging outside. The Galra had brought their biggest models of battle ships. Somehow, they'd found out about Larg’an.

 

They were about to learn that the people of Larg’an wouldn’t just lay down and accept defeat. 

 

-

 

The five lions of Voltron flew through the rebellion ships. Through the communal comm that Kohler had set up, the paladins could hear the cheering. For most on Larg’an, Voltron was nothing more than a legend. A legend come true that could turn the tides of the war.

 

The lions tore through the Galran ships. Pidge and Lance disabled the ion cannons of the battle ships, while Shiro, Hunk and Keith took them head on. The Castle of Lions gave support fire to the rebellion. 

 

The fact that Larg’an wasn’t heavily armed was becoming not only apparent, but also a problem. They had no big battle ships that other rebellion bases had. They only had small fighter jets and medium sized fire support vessels. 

 

On the common comm, Kohler’s voice sounded, full of authority. “Everyone in area 55 to 3B, you have thirty ticks to scramble.”

 

“Hunk, Pidge, you’re in those areas,” Keith said. “Get out of there.”

 

“Why?” Pidge asked as she she left the area.

 

“They’re about to fire the cannons.”

 

-

 

Though Larg’an’s shield were up, they were taking heavy fire. Kohler ordered their cannons to be readied. While not a mainly military base, it was equipped with state of the art cannons. They could supposedly take out a battleship with one strike, though they’d never been fired against those kinds of ship, or been fired at all before today. The only problem to these canons was that they were slow to charge.

 

“Fire at will once the canons are charged,” he ordered.

 

They could do it. They had to. They had to protect everyone inside. Larg’an was their home and they would not let it fall.

 

-

 

Kestrel was at the shelter, looking for the rest of the family. They knew this was the shelter they were supposed to be in. She finally spotted Myrna’s blob of white hair and Kiral’s neon pink hair in the crowd and made a bee-line for it. 

 

“There you are!” Kestrel said. 

 

“Keith isn't with you?” Myrna said, looking around, panicked. 

 

“He’s out there. He’s a paladin of Voltron now, after all.”

 

Seiran and Setka joined them, putting their arms around their children.

 

They didn’t say anything for a moment, until Setka spoke up.

 

“If the evacuation order is given,” he said, “don’t take a pod. Stay here. The order will be given when the Galra are still in the area and they’ll shoot down any escape pods they see. We have to survive. I’ll tell as many people as possible, but I don’t want this to cause a panic.”

 

The word was quietly passed along. Everyone settled down into the shelter. 

 

Parents held onto their children, comforting them with every shake, with every shot fired. Couples, both young and old, clung to each other. Some of the older ones gathered the orphans around them, telling them stories and legends of Voltron. 

 

“Voltron is out there now,” one of them said. “They’re protecting us.”

 

The smiles full of hope and wonder of the children were enough to reassure many.

 

Voltron would be their saving grace. 

 

It had to be.

 

-

 

While they had the firepower of the castle of lions, the lions themselves and the brand new canons, Larg’an was quickly overwhelmed. 

 

“We have to form Voltron,” Shiro declared. 

 

“How do we do that?” Lance asked.

 

“Does anyone know?” Hunk added.

 

“I think we’re supposed to just feel it?” Keith guessed.

 

“Allura?” Pidge asked. “What are we supposed to do?”

 

“Keith is right, it’s something you have to feel,” Allura replied.

 

They lions assembled. All of the paladins wanted the same thing: protect Larg’an, protect everyone that called it their home. 

 

None of them could really explain what happened. One second they were seperate the next they were one. They were still separate, but they could tell what the other were feeling as well. They felt like they could take down anything.

 

Their emotions flooded and melded together. Desperation. Fear. Hope. Wanting to protect. It was hard to tell when their emotions started and ended. It was all the same. They couldn’t tell what the others were thinking though, and it was probably for the best. 

 

“I can’t believe it!” Lance shouted.

 

“We did it!” Pidge exclaimed.

 

“I’m a leg!” Hunk shouted.

 

“Alright everyone,” Shiro declared.

 

“Let’s do this!” they all said.

 

It was much easier to take down ships like this, though they couldn’t take out as many. They focused on the biggest ships, the ones whose ions canons hadn’t been disabled. 

 

They were easy to take down, but there were so damn many. 

 

-

 

No one present that day would ever forget seeing Voltron form for the first time in ten thousand years.

 

However, even with its help, Larg’an’s shields were taking a beating. Kohler watched as their power supplies quickly depleted. It wouldn’t be long before the shields gave in entirely. 

 

After debating it for a moment, Kohler did something he never thought he’d do.

 

He gave the evacuation order.

 

-

 

In the shelter, the evacuation alarm sounded. Setka brought everyone closer to him. “We won’t let them take us. I won’t let them hurt any of you, I swear it on my life.” 

 

The Siongs could only hope that was true.

 

Panic spread in the shelter as people made their way to the escape pods. Setka had expected this. He shuffled his family away from the crowd so they wouldn’t be swept away. 

 

-

 

The paladins watched as escape pods left Larg’an. 

 

“We have to protect them,” Keith said.

 

“Why are they evacuating?” Lance asked. “We’re doing well!”

 

Just as he said that, Larg’an’s shields fizzled out and gave way to a particularly strong ion shot, which took away a big chunk of the moon and left a massive crater.

 

“Holy shit,” Lance said.

 

“At this rate,” Kohler sounded on the Voltron comm, “their shots will reach past the rocks and straight into Larg’an itself. If they shoot a hangar though, it’ll breach for certain. I’ve given the evacuation order. Keep an eye out for the escape pods.”

 

“We will,” they answered as one.

 

They took down another battleship before breaking up Voltron. While it was powerful, they could do more if they were separated. 

 

Every time an ion cannon fired, they all communally had a heart attack. Thankfully, it always hit rock. Never had anyone been so thankful for the fact that the base was deep underground.

 

They could still have won, if one of the enemy cannons hadn’t eventually shot through a hangar. It reached all the way to the residential districts. Several other ion shots followed suit, some almost reaching the depth of the shelters.

 

It quickly became clear that even with the help of Voltron, they couldn’t do it. They couldn’t push back the Galra. There were simply too litte facing against too many. 

 

They had already lost.

 

-

 

Kohler redirected the air supply to the shelters and the command center, since it was just being sucked out in the other areas. 

 

Kohler gave the order to everyone in the command room to head to the escape pods.

 

“But sir!” someone said. “What about you?”

 

“All of you go,” he declared. “My final order to you is to survive.”

 

After awed silence, everyone rushed out of the command room, all of them looking back, unwilling to leave their commander behind.

 

-

 

The shelter had emptied out, leaving only the Siongs and a few others who had given up their spots in the escape pods so others could go, or who had simlpy refused to leave.

 

The shaking hadn’t stopped and pieces of the ceiling were starting to get loose. Setka reassured everyone, telling them that the shelter could withstand a direct hit from an ion cannon. They could only hope that was true.

 

-

 

Kohler contacted Allura and Coran on a private channel. 

 

“I’m truly sorry to have to say this,” Kohler said, “but the battle is lost.”

 

“I can’t help but agree,” Allura muttered, “we are overwhelmed. There’s nothing we can do to win this at this point.”

 

“Retreat and get out of here,” Kohler declared. “The last thing we need is for Voltron and its paladins to get caught by the Galra.”

 

“What about everyone in Larg’an?” Allura asked. “What about you?”

 

“I’ve given the evacuation order. As for me, a commander goes down with his base.”

 

“Are you sure?” Coran said,

 

“Yes. I will protect everyone in this base until my last breath.”

 

“It was nice to know you, Commander Kohler.”

 

“It was nice to know you as well, Princess Allura. May you bring peace to the universe and rid it of Zarkon’s influence.”

 

“We will, Kohler, we will.”

 

After that, Kohler’s comm went dead, never to turn on again.

 

“Paladins!” Allura’s voice boomed through the comm. “Return to the Castle of Lions immediately! I am opening a wormhole.”

 

“We can’t leave!” Keith shouted. “There’s still people in Larg’an! My family is in there!”

 

Allura had expected this. “I’m sorry Keith, but commander Kohler himself gave us orders to retreat.”

 

“We can’t! We just can’t!” He shot down a small galra ship. 

 

“I agree with Keith!” Lance said as he shot down another ship as well.

 

“Yeah, me too!” Hunk added.

 

“We can’t just leave these people to die!” Pidge shouted.

 

“If we stay here any longer,” Coran said, “we are going to die as well! The castle’s shields won’t hold much longer!”

 

“Retreat, everyone!” Shiro said in a tone that left no room for questioning.

 

With much hesitation, the paladins started to slowly head back to the castle.

 

Keith couldn’t bring himself to move Red, and he could tell that she wanted to stay and fight as well. 

 

He saw the black lion, Shiro, come toward him and grab Red within the black lion’s mouth. Red struggled without Keith telling her to. If it wasn’t for the rest of the universe that needed protecting, he would fight his way out of Black’s grasp and run into Larg’an himself.

 

As he helplessly watched galra flag ships dock and invade Larg’an, he remembered something his mother had told him long, long ago.

 

She’d just finished telling him a story, and he was crying because everything the hero had done had been for nothing, as the one he loved had still died.

 

His mother had gathered him in her arms, pulling him onto her lap. She’d told him, her voice as warm and soft as honey:

 

“Keithak my dear child, sometimes, no matter how much we try or how much we want it, some stories just don’t have a happy ending.”

 

Keith numbly thought that this was one of those stories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is an old saying among Galra that goes like this: “The Universe only takes and does not give. It is up to us to give to those who have had everything taken from them.”


	15. Grief

There is an old saying among Galra that goes like this: “The Universe only takes and does not give. It is up to us to give to those who have had everything taken from them.”

 

-

 

All of the paladins were in the lion’s hangar when they made the jump through a wormhole.

 

Keith exited Red after Shiro had let go of her. 

 

Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to go back. He’d just abandoned his family. He’d just left them to die. Kestrel, Myrna and Kili were his cousins. Seiran was his aunt. Setka was his uncle. They had taught him more than he could ever know. He was forever thankful for them, and now he couldn’t thank them. He’d never seen them again.

 

Shiro, how dare he, put his hand on Keith’s shoulder. He quickly moved away from him and yanked off his hand. “Don’t touch me.”

 

“Keith…” Shiro said.

 

“Just don’t touch me.” 

 

Shiro kept away, an obvious pained look on his face.

 

“Just leave me alone,” Keith’s voice was shaking. “Please.”

 

With no one being able to say anything, or knowing what to say, they quietly watched as Keith left the hangar. 

 

While they all missed their families deeply, the only one who really understood what he was going through was Pidge, as she didn’t know what had happened to her family either. 

 

For what seemed like an eternity, no one moved or said anything. 

 

“What do we do?” Lance asked.

 

“Just,” Shiro sighed, passing his hand through his hair, “just get cleaned up we’ll meet in the common room later.”

 

Without anyone saying anything, they all did just that.

 

-

 

Keith made his way back to the red paladin’s quarters, his quarters. He shrugged off his armour, though he realised halfway that he’d left his bag in the common room. He didn’t feel like going to get it, so he stayed in his under armour.

 

He sat on the floor. 

 

Breathe in.

 

Breathe out. 

 

Breathe in. 

 

Breathe out.

 

Breathe in.

 

Breathe out.

 

Don’t let your breaths shudder; keep them them steady. 

 

Take long, deep breaths and empty your mind. 

 

Make yourself comfortable and relax.

 

Relax.

 

You’re safe.

 

No one will hurt you.

 

“Hey Keithak, you’re okay, you’re safe. It’s just you and me here. There’s no need to panic. Everyone messes up, that’s why have simulators. You can’t get hurt in a simulator, you’re fine.”

 

He looked at his cousin. His breaths were short and quick, panicked. 

 

“Do what I do.” She took in deep breaths, and he synchronised with her. 

 

Breathe in.

 

Breathe out.

 

Breathe in.

 

Breathe out.

After his breathing was more or less back to normal, she spoke again.

 

“You know, there’s a neat thing about being Altean that really helps when you’re panicking. Watch me.”

 

He did, and her skin quickly changed colour, the patterns swirling on her hands and skin. It was calming.

 

“How do you do it?”

 

“You just shift as quickly as you can. You try.”

 

He did. He shifted as quickly as he could manage.

 

He watched the patterns dance and swirl on the skin of his hands and arms. 

 

It still had the same calming effect, even years later. 

 

He didn’t how long he watched the colours dance.

 

Breathe in.

 

Breathe out.

 

Myrna had taught him that. Myrna, who was now very likely dead. Myrna, who was engaged to a splatyan called Kiral. Myrna, who would never get the chance to marry the person she loved.

 

-

 

Myrna, Kestrel, Kiral, Seiran and Setka knew that the battle was lost. 

 

“What do we do now?” Seiran asked softly.

 

“We don’t let the Galra take us,” Setka declared. “I won’t let what happened to me happen to you.”

 

“There’s weapons in the storage area,” Kestrel said. “I’ll go get them.”

 

She came back less than a minute later with weapons for everyone. 

 

Myrna took Kili. She would hang back and be support. The Siongs along with everyone else in the shelter who was in condition fight placed themselves around the shelter to ambush the Galra soldiers once they arrived. 

 

Setka ordered his family to shift into Splatyans. The Galra were less likely to aim to kill a Splatyan than an Altean. Myrna shifted, and thankfully, so did Kili. She was glad that he had a tendency to shift into whatever species he was closest to.

 

They spread out some splati and hid in it, waiting for the Galra to come.

 

They wouldn’t let themselves be taken.

 

They would die before that.

 

-

 

All of the paladins met up in the common room after cleaning up, like Shiro had told them to. Unsurprisingly, Keith wasn’t there. It felt like all of the progress they’d made over the past few days was gone. 

 

Pidge saw his bag laid out on the floor. She grabbed it and headed out to the quarters.

 

“Where are you going?” Lance asked. .

 

“To see Keith,” Pidge replied. “The last thing he needs right now is to be alone.”

 

Lance left it at that. He wanted to go too, but Pidge was the only one who had an idea of what he may be going through.

 

Pidge knocked at Keith’s door. “Keith, it’s me, Pidge. I’m coming in alright?”

 

There was no answer, but the door was unlocked so she had no problem coming in.

 

He was sitting on the floor, his paladin armour piled in a corner. He looked up at her, his eyes that eerie galra yellow. His ears also looked like a galra’s and there were purple spots all across his face and she could only assume it was also like that all over him.

 

“What do you want?” his voice sounded like a growl.

 

“I came to give you your bag since you left it in the common room.” Pidge walked through the room and sat across from Keith. “I’m also here to talk.”

 

“I don’t feel like talking.” He bowed his head, looking like the floor was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.

 

“Then I’ll talk,” Pidge said. Keith looked at her again, but said nothing, so she took it as a sign to go ahead.

 

“A year ago,” she started, “my dad and my brother, along with Shiro, left for Kerberos, which is a moon at the edge of our solar system. Our technology is less advanced, so it takes a few months to get that far out. One day, we lost contact with them. The government said the crew died because of a pilot error, but I knew it wasn’t true. So I fought for the truth. I knew there was no way they were dead, that there was no way their pilot, Shiro, would cause their deaths. Now I know that there were kidnapped by the Galra. The only reason I know that is because I searched for them. I couldn’t find my dad and brother in the rebellion’s system, but I know they’re out there and that they’re alive. I just need to find and rescue them. That’s why I’m a paladin of Voltron.”

 

“Why are you telling me this?” Keith asked.

 

“Because your family are fighters. We both know that. We both know that they’ll fight not only against the galra, but to survive too. You’ll see the, again, I know it.”

 

Keith was quiet for a moment, weighing her words. “Yeah, you’re right. They’re going to fight and I have to as well. It’s the least I can do.” He wasn’t sure if he believed what he was saying, but it was reassuring, at least. Sure, his family were fighters, but what was a good fighter against an army?

 

“None of us wanted to abandon Larg’an, trust me, not even Allura and Coran.”

 

“You better not have wanted to leave.” 

 

-

 

Kohler watched on the security footage as galran soldiers invaded Larg’an. He retrieved his gun. He would go down fighting. He’d been taken once. He wouldn’t be taken again. Setka wouldn’t save him this time. Setka wouldn’t get hurt again.

 

Kohler would die before being taken.

 

The galra soldiers entered the command room, guns aimed toward him. “Surrender or die,” they said. Kohler raised his own gun. 

 

Three shots were fired.

 

Two people fell to the floor.

 

-

 

Lance joined Pidge in Keith’s room. He found them sitting on floor.

 

“What do you want?” Keith asked.

 

“Just came to make sure everything was alright. Keith, I’m so sorry for everything.”

 

Keith nodded. “Nowhere else to go but forward. I know they’ll survive. They won’t just lay down and die.”

 

“Hell yeah they won’t.” Lance enthusiastically wrapped an around Keith, who immediately unwrapped it. Lance had no respect for personal space. 

 

“We should go see the others,” Pidge said. “When you’re ready, of course.”

 

“I’m going to shower,” Keith sighed as he stood up. He grabbed his bag and headed to the bathroom that was attached to his room.

 

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed in there, but it helped him calm down. He could mourn, yes, but he wouldn’t allow himself to do so until he knew if they were dead or not. There was no use in mourning people who may not even be dead. He couldn’t waste his energy, not when he was paladin of Voltron. Not when the universe relied on him.

 

When he left the shower, he dug through his bag. He put on a simple black shirt and pants, then put on a red vest. He left his quarters and realised he had no idea where the others might be. He didn’t know how to get around, either. He’d only really been in the common room when he’d visited before, so now he had no idea how to get there. 

 

“Quiznak,” he muttered.

 

-

 

A Lyran crew arrived at Larg’an far too late to be of any help. They found the base broken in pieces and emptied out. Pieces of evac pods were found floating in the area. 

 

The bodies of many were found, most civilians. They found Kohler in the command room; he’d been shot in the neck and the chest. 

 

There was evidence of a bloody and deadly fight in one of the shelters.They hadn’t expected to find any survivors in Larg’an, but they only found a female splatyan and a baby, too traumatised to say what had happened. She and that baby were the only survivors of the attack. 

 

-

 

A rebellion leader received the news of the fall of Larg’an. There were only two survivors.

 

She had a brother on that base. She had nieces. She had a nephew. She had her son. 

 

She couldn’t show weakness, not now. She could mourn later. 

 

She lit six candles, three red, one pink, two blue. One for each Altean life lost. 

 

She mourned for her lost family, but also for all of the lives lost in that attack. That base had been mostly civilians. Thousands upon thousands of innocent lives had been lost on this day, not just her family. 

 

The Rebellion would mourn.

 

The Rebellion would rise again.

 

-

 

Keith eventually found his way to the common room. The mood was low, to say the least. Everyone was on a couch, sitting silently. They looked up when he walked in. They all had that pitiful look in their eyes. He couldn’t take it. Sighing, he took a seat next to Hunk. 

 

For all of them, the silence became too much. 

 

“Now what?” Hunk asked.

 

“We can’t let this bring us down,” Shiro said. “We have to keep fighting. We can’t let the deaths of those who lived in Larg’an be for nothing.”

 

They all nodded. Shiro was right. 

 

Despite their leader’s speech, Keith wasn’t too sure if he could trust him. He had jumped on the occasion to retreat. He wasn’t really sure if he could trust any of them. Sure, they’d been friendly over the past few days, but now everything was different.

 

As he looked around the room, Pidge made eye contact with him and gave him a small smile. Hunk gave him a small pat on the back, nothing too invasive. Perhaps he could at least trust those two.

 

Shiro could see how tense Keith was from across the room. The poor kid had lost his family in the span of a few hours. He didn’t even know if they were still alive, though they all knew the chances of that were slim. He made a note to have a talk with Keith later.

 

Allura and Coran joined the paladins in the common room. They both had a pitiful look in their eyes, and Keith couldn’t stand that. The last thing he needed right now was another Altean’s pity. 

 

-

 

Allura knew she had to talk to the paladins and bring up their morale. She’d done it before, but it was Keith she was mostly worried about. His family had been on board, and there was now no way to know if they were alive. She knew the chances of that were slim.

 

She braced herself before entering the common room. All of the paladins looked truly miserable. Keith had a schooled expression, but it wasn’t hard to see pain in his eyes. He’d shifted back to a more galran form, and his ears were drooping, a clear sign that he was upset. 

 

Allura forgot everything she was about to say. She had to reassure her paladins. While she was their leader, she also had to make sure their mental health stayed in good shape. 

 

“We have to move on,” she said. “I know that is likely not what you want to hear, but Voltron is needed across the universe. Starting tomorrow, we will begin proper training for all of you. Take the rest of today to recover and relax. If you need Coran or I, we will be in the command room.”

 

Allura left the common room, knowing that was not the best she could’ve done. Coran put a hand on her shoulder. 

 

They would move through this. They had to.

 

The universe needed them.

 

-

 

The son of the leader of the rebellion was dead. Upon hearing the news, the rebellion mourned. 

 

It mourned for the cub.

 

It mourned for Larg’an. 

 

-

 

For the first times in decades, the Siong household was quiet. No one spoke or moved. In the span of a few hours they’d lost seven people. Seven of theirs were dead. 

 

Setka.

 

Seiran.

 

Myrna.

 

Kestrel.

 

Kili.

 

Kiral.

 

Keith.

 

All seven of them were dead. All seven of them would never come back to this place. 

 

“Mama,” the youngest of them, little Mishka, pulled on her mother’s shirt. “Where Keef?”

 

Romelle, her mother, gathered her baby in her arms. “He’s sleeping love, he’s gone to sleep for a very long time.”

 

“Like bedtime story?” the little galra asked, her curious yellow eyes looking up at her mother. 

 

“Yes baby,” Romelle stroked her daughter’s hair, “just like the bedtime story.”

 

Mishka burrowed herself in her mother’s neck and started crying. 

 

-

 

All of the paladins stayed in the common room. 

 

“You guys wanna play mario kart?” Pidge asked.

 

Shiro shrugged. “Sure.”

 

Hunk and Lance looked really excited.

 

There was only confusion on Keith’s face. “What the quiznack is a mario kart?”

 

Pidge’s grin scared him. “Oh we’ll teach you.”

 

After quickly learning the controls, Keith beat all of them. Allura and Coran eventually joined them. While they raced (competitively), they also talked.

 

In between two matches, while the cinematic showing the top three was playing, Lance spoke up.

 

“Allura, Coran, what was Altea like?”

 

It felt like a ball dropped. Everyone went silent, the only sound being the music in the background.

 

Keith turned to the pair, eyes wide and ears straight up to attention. Lance was sure that if he had a tail, it would wag excitedly.

 

Both Allura and Coran had warm smiles on their faces. 

 

Allura told them of the juniberry fields, of the festivals, of the people, of the traditions. Coran told them of the weather, of the cities, of the technology. 

 

They all listened wide-eyed. Keith swallowed every bit of information they gave them. That place could have been his home. 

 

“It didn’t matter what someone’s gender or even species was, love was love,” Allura said, looking at Keith. “You would not have been anomaly, you would not have been shunned or ridiculed for who your parents are. You should not have had to live in hiding.”

 

Keith nearly cried. 

 

“What about you?” Coran said, turning to the humans while also wrapping an arm around Keith. “What is your homeworld like?”

 

Keith shied away from Coran, but didn’t remove his arm. 

 

-

 

“A large rebellion base, Larg’an, located in system AAGFI-03, was destroyed last night by a brave group of soldiers. The commander of the base was killed and the few survivors were sent to work camps. Another great victory against the rebellion by our great empire.”

 

“Oh good, the less rebels the better, I say,” a soldier said.

 

“I heard that base is mostly civilians,” another said. “They barely had anything to defend themselves with.”

 

“What do you think commander Thace?” a soldier turned to him.

 

“Rebels are rebels,” he answered before taking a swig of his drink.

 

His brother-in-law and his children had been on there. He made a note to check the system later and see if they’d been taken in as prisoners. 

 

He still didn’t know where his son was. 

 

He hoped he was alright.

 

He hoped he was alive.

 

-

 

Hours passed. They told stories of their childhood, of the places they grew up in. 

 

The paladins were starting to get tired, but they weren’t willing to stop talking.

 

It was Coran who called it quits when Keith leaned against him slightly and promptly fell asleep. It had been a long day for all of them. 

 

“Training will start tomorrow afternoon,” Allura said, “feel free to sleep in; we’ve all had a long day.”

 

The paladins all headed back to their quarters. Those who were awake, anyway. 

 

Coran picked up Keith and carried him to his room. He didn't wake up or even stir. Anyone else would have said that Keith was simply exhausted, but Coran knew that Galra his age (cubs and kits) slept like rocks. It had something to do with them needing as much energy as possible to grow. Coran would have to make sure he got enough food (and enough sleep).

 

After putting Keith in bed, Coran left a little note to him to tell him how he’d gotten there so he wouldn't be disoriented when he woke up. He also picked up Keith’s paladin armour and hung it on one of the hangers. Another thing he’d made sure of was that Keith had the right products to take proper care of his fur. He knew there were some in the castle’s storage, somewhere. 

 

He would look for them first thing in the morning. 

 

For now though, everyone needed to rest.

 

Everyone needed to sleep.

 

Everyone needed to mourn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all of you comments last chapter! They were great, I loved every single one of them :)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this one, and I'll see you next time! 
> 
> Here's the preview for chapter 16:  
> No matter what his parents said, he wasn’t a kit anymore and didn’t need to be carried to bed. He would admit that he wasn’t fully grown yet, but just because he was smaller than others his age, it didn’t mean he was a kit. He just hadn’t had his final growth spurt yet, that was all.
> 
>  
> 
> (Or at least that’s what he kept telling himself.)


	16. Rise

When he woke up the next day, Keith was confused. This was not his bed. He had no idea how he’d gotten there. A small note on the end table told him that it was Coran who had carried him to bed. 

 

Quiznack that was embarrassing. He hoped none of the others had seen that. No matter what his parents said, he wasn’t a kit anymore and didn’t need to be carried to bed. He would admit that he wasn’t fully grown yet, but just because he was smaller than others his age, it didn’t mean he was a kit. He just hadn’t had his final growth spurt yet, that was all.

 

(Or at least that’s what he kept telling himself.)

 

As he got dressed, he realised that he didn’t quite know what to do. 

 

He dug through his bag and found his smashed up radio. He’d forgotten to get rid of it or get it fixed. He’d have to ask someone later about how to do one of those things around here. He didn’t know much about the castle or its layout, and now he had no choice but to learn it. 

 

With nothing better to do, Keith decided that it was time for him to unpack the few things he’d brought with him. 

 

He unceremoniously dumped its contents on the floor and sat down in front of the pile. Most of it was clothes, which he neatly put into drawers.

 

He carefully unwrapped the picture frames. 

 

There was an old picture of himself while very young in his father’s arms, with his mother standing next to them. All three were smiling. A more recent one of him holding little Mishka, with her waving at the person taking the picture, which was one of their aunts, though he couldn’t remember which. It had been taken right before he’d left for the academy last surayn. He put both of those pictures on his end table, so it would be the first thing he saw every morning. 

 

There were a few others, depicting moments in his life, Mishka’s or his parent’s. He put those on top of his dresser drawer.

 

He poked his head out of his door and saw that the lights in the hallway were still dark. He also couldn't hear anything from the other rooms, which he knew were where the others paladins were. He prided himself in his good hearing, so he knew that meant they were all still asleep. He wasn’t one to complain about more sleep, so he crawled back into bed and immediately fell asleep.

 

-

 

Allura was up early, or at least early compared to the paladins, who were all still asleep. To her surprise, even Coran was asleep. She made her way to the training room, where she set everything up. She decided that she wouldn’t go too hard on them, since the fall of Larg’an was still affecting them. They couldn't let it get to them. They had to move on. For the good of the universe.

 

She would have to make sure to pull Keith aside at one point during the day to talk to him about the way he was coping not only with the death of his family, but also about being in the castle. It had been a sudden change for all of the paladins, but for him especially. To have lost so much in so little time, they had that in common, at least. 

 

He was still so young though, the poor cub. 

 

-

 

For the first time in a long time, Shiro had fallen asleep quickly. Seeing Keith asleep like that in Coran’s arms had been a reminder of just how young they all were. Lance and Hunk weren’t 18 yet, while Pidge was just barely a teenager. Who knew how old Keith was, but probably around the same age as Hunk and Lance, maybe a little younger, but definitely older than Pidge. 

 

It didn’t change the fact that they were children. 

 

Children fighting against a universe spanning empire. 

 

None of them would get hurt.

 

None of them would die.

 

Not on his watch.

 

-

 

Pidge was asleep quickly. She only felt more resolve to being a paladin. She’d been doubtful at first, she’d even thought of leaving, but now after seeing what had happened to Larg’an, she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t stop until the Galra, no, Zarkon, were stopped. Her family was still a priority, yes, but saving the universe came first. 

 

-

 

Lance was unsure of what to do. The fall of Larg’an hurt, especially knowing that despite all of their efforts, it had still been destroyed. It was a reminder of the strength of the galran empire and of what they were really up against. 

 

They had a lot of training to do if they wanted to go up against the empire. 

 

He missed his family, but at least they were safe on Earth. At least, he hoped they were. Earth was far from the empire’s borders as far as he knew. He’d have to ask Coran when he woke up. 

 

He would go now, but last time he’d seen Coran he’d been carrying Keith to bed and now that Lance was in his own bed, he didn’t feel like moving. 

 

Sleep couldn’t find him, it seemed. Sighing, he got out of bed and shuffled to the command room. Surprisingly, it was empty. The hum of the machinery was the only sound aside from his breathing. 

 

As he looked out into space, he wondered which star was the one he’d grown up under. He knew he likely wouldn’t be able to see it, but it was a reassuring thought. 

 

He wondered what his family was up to. He wondered if they thought he was dead. He’d just disappeared one day, which the garrison would undoubtedly be blamed for. He hoped his disappearance hadn’t caused any tension between Cuba and the states, but he knew better. 

 

He eventually returned to his room and fell asleep.

 

-

 

Hunk didn’t know what to think. Larg’an and all of her people were gone. All because they hadn’t been able to protect it, even with Voltron. He wondered if what they were doing meant anything.

 

If not even Voltron, the strongest weapon in the entire universe, couldn’t protect a single rebellion base, what good were they? How could they possibly hope to bring down an empire if they couldn’t bring down a small battle regimen?

 

He had to believe that they could accomplish it, that they could take down the empire, but right now, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. 

 

He eventually fell into a troubled sleep.

 

-

 

Hunk was the second one awake. He found that none of the paladins were awake, but he wanted them to start the day with a good breakfast. 

 

He quickly got to work making breakfast, using the supplies Larg’an had given them. He didn’t want them to go to waste. He wasn’t quite sure how to prepare these exactly, but he’d picked up some things from Seiran.

 

-

 

Keith woke up when he heard footsteps in the hallway. They got louder as they got closer to his door, but then carried on. He didn’t who it was; he wasn’t used to the sound of everyone yet, but judging by how loud they were, his best guess was that it was Hunk.

 

For the second time in a few hours, he poked his head out of his door. He saw no one, so he decided to follow after whoever it had been that was walking around earlier.

 

A sweet smell came from where he was going. His nose led the way to the kitchen, where Hunk was cooking. Keith was still on edge when Hunk turned to him and smiled.

 

“Oh good morning Keith!” his smile was warm and inviting. It reminded Keith of one of his aunts.

 

He found himself unable to really speak. Why was Hunk so kind to him? “Good morning,” he replied after a moment.

 

“Did you sleep well?” Hunk asked.

 

Keith nodded. 

 

“Wanna help me make breakfast?” Hunk asked as Keith wandered close to the counter, still on edge.

 

“Sure.”

 

-

 

Hunk didn’t like how on edge Keith was. He constantly looked ready to spring into action and deck someone. It was a far cry from how relaxed he’d been in the past few days, before the attack.

 

He’d quickly come up with a way to try to bond with Keith, and cooking was something Hunk knew was effective to bond with people. He looked a little more comfortable. He started peeling what Hunk had labeled “space potatoes”.

 

“What are you making?” he asked.

 

“Hashbrowns,” Keith replied. “It’s mashed potatoes and then you fry them.”

 

“Yeah, we have those back on Earth.”

 

“You do? Even with the same name?”

 

“The castle’s translator is probably doing the job. It has a tendency to be pretty picky about what it translates though,” Hunk replied, thinking of the times he’d caught Lance muttering in spanish.

 

“Weird,” Keith muttered. “What are you making?”

 

“Eggs, bacon and french toast, along with the hashbrowns you’re making are going to be a great breakfast.”

 

“You think so?”

 

“I know so.”

 

Keith smiled a little, which was all Hunk had wanted to see. 

 

They cooked in silence for a while, neither really minding. 

 

“I’m going to have to go wake up the others so the food is warm when they get to it.” Hunk said. 

 

Keith only nodded. 

 

Allura walked in then, greeting them both. “I wasn’t expecting you two here.”

 

“Oh Allura!” Hunk said, cheery, “We weren’t expecting you here either. We’re making breakfast, you want some?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“It’s not quite ready yet though, the hashbrowns need to cook a little more, I think.”

 

“Yeah, they’re better crunchy,” Keith added, checking them in the oven.

 

“Should I wake the others?” Allura asked.

 

“That would be a good idea,” Hunk said.

 

Before Allura could do any of that, Coran barged in. 

 

“Keith my boy! There you are! I’ve been looking for you all morning!”

 

Keith jumped out of his skin and shifted his panicked gaze between him and Hunk. 

 

“What is it Coran?” Hunk asked for Keith, who was very grateful.

 

“Oh, I just wanted to ask you if you could completely shift into your galra form for me?”

 

“Why?” Keith tensed.

 

“I need to know what kind of fur you have so I can get you the proper products for fur care,” Coran explained. “The ones we have in the castle are likely different than the ones you’re used to, so I need to make sure that we have the right thing for the kind of fur you have.”

 

“Oh, right,” Keith nodded as he shifted.

 

For Hunk, it was an odd thing to watch. Sure, he’d seen the Alteans in Larg’an shift a few times, especially during the Tremk, but he’d never seen it this close. It was cool to watch. 

 

Coran leaned in close (uncomfortably so) to Keith and took a close look at his fur. Just looking at it, Coran could tell that it was dry and probably scratchy. The cub really needed to wash it, and do it properly. He was a short hair too, which was good since the castle didn’t have anything for long hairs.

 

“If I’m not mistaken, I have exactly what you need. I’ll bring it here so you try it out before I bring you all of it.”

 

“Alright, thank you,” Keith said. 

 

Coran left to retrieve whatever the products were, while Keith turned his attention back to the hashbrowns in the oven. Allura also left to go wake up the paladins. While she had said they could sleep in, it was currently the middle of the afternoon.

 

Keith was still shifted into a galra. 

 

“Do you have a form you're more comfortable in, or do you not really care which one it is?”

 

Keith looked at him, confusion apparent in his yellow eyes. “Like this.” Keith muttered, eyes (and ears) downcast. He figured it had something to do with him being at the academy for so long. 

 

“Are you sure?” Hunk asked, noticing the sudden change in Keith. He sat down next to him on the floor. “You know you’re allowed any form you’re comfortable here, right? No one will get mad at you for it. Your comfort matters.”

 

Keith looked at him with wide eyes. His ears rose straight up. “Are you sure?” he asked quietly.

 

“Absolutely.” Hunk’s heart swelled when he saw the smile of pure relief and happiness on Keith’s face. “I would to go war for this kid,” he found himself thinking. He named himself founder and president of the “protect Keith’s smile” club. He would recruit Coran and Pidge later, maybe he could even get everyone in on it. 

 

Keith reached put and grabbed Hunk’s wrist, but didn’t move afterward. Did he want a hug? Probably. 

 

Keith received a patented Hunk bear hug. Keith let out a surprised yelp, and staying stiff like a board before eventually struggling to get free. Hunk put him down, still smiling. 

 

-

 

Shiro, Lance and Pidge were woken up by Allura knocking on their doors. Breakfast was ready, she told them. They shouldn’t let it go to waste. When she told them it was Hunk who’d cooked it, they hurried to the kitchen.

 

Shiro did a double take when he walked into the kitchen. Lance was trying to pet a Galra’s ears. There was a Galra on board. Why was there a Galra on board?

 

“C’mon Keith, can I touch them? Please? They look so soft!”

 

“Please don’t,” the Galra said. 

 

Hunk walked over and lifted the Galra onto his shoulders. “Leave Keith alone, Lance,” he deadpanned.

 

Keith. The Galra was Keith. That was right. Keith’s father was Galra. Keith’s mother was Altean, so he could shift between species. Now that Shiro took a moment, he noticed the red crop top jacket that Keith wore for some (ungodly) reason. The Galra (Keith) also had similar facial features to Keith. 

 

“Hunk, please put me down,” Keith said, his voice barely audible. 

 

“I’ll only do that if Lance promises to not touch your ears,” Hunk said, eyeing Lance. 

 

“Can we eat already?” Pidge asked from the table. “I’m hungry.”

 

“Lance, leave Keith alone,” Allura scolded him. “Take your seats everybody.”

 

Hunk eyed Lance before putting Keith back down. 

Keith sat down next to Pidge. Lance sat on her other side. Allura sat on the edge of the table, while Coran sat next to her, which was across from Keith.

 

“I have some of the fur dust on me if you’d like to try it out,” Coran told him.

 

“What kind is it?” Keith asked.

 

Coran pulled a small box and handed it to him. “It’s dust from Carai, especially good for short hairs like yourself. As long as you aren’t allergic to it of course.”

 

“What do you mean allergic?” Lance asked as Keith opened the box.

 

“The problem with Carai dust is that nearly half of the galra population is allergic to it,” Coran explained.

 

Just as Coran finished saying that, Keith sniffed the dust and started sneezing and coughing. 

 

“All right, you’re allergic.” Coran took the box away from him. “We’ll have to do a supply run to get some dust soon. That fur of yours will mat and dry otherwise.” 

 

Keith asked for water between two coughing fits and Shiro got up to give it him. After chugging it and a few more fits, he settled down. 

 

“You alright?” Hunk asked him as he came to the table with everyone’s plates.

 

“I’m fine.”

 

Hunk served the food and everyone dug in.

 

“Hunk,” Lance said after a while, “you’ve outdone yourself with these hashbrowns. They’re almost as good as the one my mama makes.”

 

“Keith made them, actually,” Hunk said. 

 

Lance looked at Keith by leaning over on the table. “These are amazing.”

 

Keith gave him a shy smile before looking away and focusing his gaze on his food.

 

After breakfast (lunch), they went on to start training. The first thing they did was to mind meld. They all had a little bit of trouble, but they eventually got the hang of it. 

 

After a few, grueling hours of training, they were given break and they all collapsed and Coran gave out space juice. The paladins didn’t talk for a little while until Lance spoke up. 

 

“Keith, why do you need that dust to take care of your fur? Can’t you just stay shifted as something else?”

 

Keith shook his head. “Doesn’t work that way. If I was pure breed, I could, but since I’m half breed, I still have to take care of my fur.”

 

Lance nodded, continuing to sip the space juice.

 

They trained for three more hours after their break, though this half of the training was less focused on teamwork, rather they focused on individual strengths. While they would preferably be always together in any situation, but they couldn’t let themselves be taken by surprise if they were to be attacked while on their own.

 

They trained intensively the next day as well. Allura knew they don’t have the luxury of time to properly train these paladins, so she pushed them. Coran reminded her that they were children, and that she shouldn’t push them so hard.

 

“They may be,” she’d replied, “but they’re all the universe has.”

 

“Are they ready?”

 

“I believe they are.”

 

-

 

That night, Coran found Lance in the command room, looking at the star map.

 

“What’s wrong, my boy?” Coran asked him.

 

“I miss Earth’” Lance replied. “I never thought I’d ever be this far away from it, even as a pilot. I can’t even see it from here.”

 

“Earth is quite far,” Coran agreed. He started manipulating the starmap. “We’re here and Earth is aaaaaaaalllll the way over there.”

 

“Is the Galra empire anywhere near it? Is it in danger?”

 

“No, the empire is still far from your galaxy. If you want, I can put up an alarm that will tell us if Galra ships enter it.”

 

“That would be amazing.” Lance smiled , and Coran knew he’d done something right. “What are you doing out here so late Coran?” he asked.

 

“I was going to look for a nearby supply post for us to stop in. Even with what Larg’an gave us, there are still so many things we need.”

 

“Like the stuff for Keith’s fur?”

 

“One of the many things we need,” Coran agreed.

 

They stood in silence for a while, Lance studying the starmap and memorising how far away the empire’s borders were from the Milky Way. It was reassuring. He would have to tell the others about it, so they wouldn’t worry either. 

 

Knowing that his family was safe and that they would be alerted if the Galra came too close, he could focus on being a paladin and saving the universe. The Voltron crew was like his family away from his family He would protect them like he would his own family. He didn’t want them to be hurt.

 

“I’m gonna go back to my room,” Lance said. 

 

“Good, a paladin needs as much rest as possible, especially since the princess is thinking of assigning you your second official mission.”

 

“I really should go sleep then.”

 

Coran hummed in response. He listened as Lance’s footsteps echoed through the hallway before it completely fell silent. He worked on his sensor until he finished it. He should have left then, but he moved the starmap until it showed an area of space he was familiar with. 

 

From what he could tell from the starmap, the system that once housed Altea was nothing but cosmic dust. Pidge called those dust clouds “nebulae”. Alteans simply called them cosmic dust clouds. Humans seemed to have odd naming conventions, but he guessed that Alteans had been like that once. They were space explorers, yes, but whenever they met natives of other worlds they would use the native’s language to name things, so they never really named anything outside of Altea itself and the surrounding uninhabited planets. 

 

Nebula, or cosmic dust, would eventually condense back into planets and astral objects. Coran found a small bit of reassurance knowing that one day, another planet would stand where Altea once did. He wondered how its civilization would be. How its people would be. If it would harbor life at all.

 

Life could come from all of that destruction. That was enough for him.

 

-

 

Their second mission went smoothly. No one got badly hurt. They’d protect the base they were going to get their supplies from, which wasn’t what they had planned, but it had worked out.

 

As a reward, they’d been given lifetime discounts at this trading base along with quite a bit of GAC, which was a new concept to Allura and Coran. It wasn’t necessary, but it was appreciated.

 

Coran did most of the shopping while the others explored. Coran had dragged Keith along with him so he could know which dust to get him that he wouldn’t have a reaction to, since as Keith had told him after that first try in the kitchen, he was allergic to quite a few kinds of dusts.

 

It took nearly an hour to find a kind that didn’t send Keith into a coughing fit. The Galra who ran the stand had asked to make sure that Keith’s parents knew that he was with Coran and that he wasn’t in any kind of danger. The fact that he still wore his paladin armour meant nothing to her, apparently. Keith would have been offended, but he was so used to being treated like a cub because of his size that he barely registered it anymore.

 

Eventually, they managed to find a kind of dust that Keith wasn’t sensible to. Lorlai dust. Though he would never admit it out loud, it was so damn soft. It smelled really nice too. Coran bought her entire supply of it, which was enough for a month. She apologised for not having more, since it was a kind that had so little demand for it since very few people preferred it over grali dust (Keith was allergic to that one too). She promised she would have more in stock when they came by next time. 

 

Both Coran and Keith thanked her before leaving with a cart she’d given them to carry it. They met with the others in one of the many food courts, where Coran went over the list of everything they still needed.

 

Lance declared that the paladins should stick together for the rest of the day, but Allura reminded them that they couldn’t stay much longer, as they had a place they were trying to get to. 

 

“I still need time to get everything we need Princess, about three hours I’d say,” Coran said.

 

“Then I want everyone in the castle in three hours,” Allura replied.

 

The paladins enjoyed an afternoon of relaxing. After the few times they’d accepted food from strangers and nothing happened, Shiro stopped reprimanding them, but he was still ready should any of them drop. None of them did, though Lance would later complain of a stomach ache.

 

Hunk kept a close eye on Keith, making sure he felt included, but didn’t feel forced to participate. He saw him smile a few times, which was far less than before, but it was something. 

 

Pidge kept an eye out for cool technologies and little robots. She’d been dragged away from more than one store, but Shiro had allowed her to buy a small drone which she’d immediately named Rover. When asked what inspired the name, she shrugged. It was the name of her dog.

 

As planned, everyone returned three hours later. Everyone had gotten a few things. Hunk some pans, Lance some beauty products, Pidge Rover and Keith had gotten covers for his knife (Shiro had gotten some eyeliner when none of them were looking). Coran had gotten all of their supplies, they would be alright for awhile, though they likely would need to go back for Keith’s dust. Pidge had a feeling this would be a recurring thing.

 

-

 

As the weeks passed, they became better both in training and on missions. They became a team.Granted, there was still bickering once in awhile, but no one held grudges.

 

It was an undisputed fact that Keith was the best pilot among them. Lance, Hunk and Pidge had been trained to be pilots and Shiro had been a professional pilot, but the Galra did not fuck around when it came to training their pilots. Keith had told them that while he’d been top of class, he wasn’t (officially) at the highest rank of the academy.

 

“What level of training were you at?” Shiro had asked him.

 

“In-galaxy cargo, which is the second class of four,” he’d replied.

 

“You were halfway through your class?” Hunk was truly amazed. If this was how the Galra were trained.

 

“Well, yeah, but I was up for nomination to skip my third curayn and go directly to my fourth since I’d already learnt everything that’s taught in that curayn.”

 

“That’s amazing,” Lance said. 

 

“So you’re just naturally talented when it comes to piloting?” Pidge noted. “That’s cool.”

 

“I guess you could say that,” Keith nodded, “though my granp did teach me how to fly when I was a kid. That’s what made me want to become a pilot in the first place.”

 

“Your granp being?” Lance asked, always eager to know more about his family.

 

“My mom’s father.”

 

While the ship’s translator did a pretty good job, there were some terms that just didn’t translate. Whenever they’d ask what it meant, Keith would try to explain it, but he couldn’t. 

 

They eventually figured it out that surayn was the Galra’s equivalent of summer, while curayn was the rest the rest of the year. Coran had told them that the seasons depended on which of Galra’s moon were closest to the equator, which affected the weather. Surayn was when the weather was warmer, curayn was when it was colder and what could be considered the rainy season. 

 

-

 

They’d just liberated a balmera. It had been a tough fight, they’d had to form Voltron a few times to take down that huge, eye laser lizard thing. They’d liberated the balmerans, who learnt about freedom. Hunk had made a friend, Shay, among them. She’d saved their lives and her good deed would not be forgotten. 

 

Hunk, along with the other paladins, considered her a hero.

 

-

 

“Don’t.”

 

Lance recoiled and Keith whirled around, squinting suspiciously. Lance smiled.

 

“Seriously?” Keith asked with a straight face.

 

Lance slumped over the back of the couch. “Pleeeeaaase? They look so soft.”

 

“Don’t touch my ears.”

 

“Ever since you started using that dust stuff your fur’s looked so soft.”

 

“That’s what the dust does, Lance.”

 

Keith didn’t like his ears being touched unless it was someone he knew very well. He’d known for a while, but he was just too eager for Keith to allow it. 

 

Lance had a pitiful look on his face, but Keith was having none of it. “I’ve had enough younger cousins that that look doesn’t work on me anymore, Lance.”

 

Lance sighed, then climbed onto the couch next to Keith. He was going over their latest flight and seeing what he could do to improve. Lance listened to Keith’s advice, since, as much as he hated to admit it, he did need help when it came to piloting Blue better.

 

-

 

The paladins had lost count of the amount of successful missions they’d had. Sure, they’d had a few close calls, but they were all still alive. Everyone had been in the healing pods at least once. 

 

They’d all been terrified when Hunk had been shot by and it almost gone directly through his armour. He’d been rushed to a pod by Shiro and the paladins had stayed in the healing bay until he woke up. Like Lance had said, it was like a sleepover. A three day long sleepover, but it was a sleepover.

 

Hunk gave everyone a tight hug. They all hugged. They were a family.

 

Keith would later deny that he purred, but he had. Hunk just gave such good hugs.

 

He wondered if it was selfish of him to want more of them.

 

-

 

Pidge had worked on developing an invisibility cloak, first for her own lion, then for all of the lions. It worked amazingly well and surprisingly, even worked on Voltron. Granted, it only lasted for a few seconds, but it had saved their asses more than once. 

 

On her free time, she still looked for places where her family might be. She also kept an eye out for Keith’s family. Allura had put her in charge of finding members of the rebellion, though she had no luck so far. The rebellion was good at hiding.

 

-

 

Shiro would often find Keith in the training room late at night after everyone else had gone to sleep. He had a feeling that Keith still blamed himself for what had happened back in Larg’an. 

 

“Want to spar?” Shiro asked.

 

“Sure,” Keith shrugged as he shifted into something more Altean. He’d quickly picked up on the fact that Shiro was uncomfortable around Galra, so he’d shift whenever he was around.

 

“No, shift back.” Keith looked at him in confusion.

 

“We’re fighting Galra, I might as well get used to it here.”

 

Keith nodded, ready to fight. 

 

Shiro quickly found out that Keith was unnervingly good at hand-to-hand combat. Sure, he was good with the sword, but he was even better with his fists. Shiro wasn’t sure if he wanted to know why that was, though he had a pretty good idea already.

 

Despite Keith’s abilities in hand to hand, he was the one who ended up with a broken wrist. Shiro had blocked one of his punches with his metal arm, and Keith froze.

 

“You alright?” Shiro asked, panicked.

 

Keith grabbed his wrist. “I think it’s broken.”

 

It was late at night, and even Coran and Allura were sleeping. Guilty, panicked, but keeping calm, Shiro did the logical thing and took Keith in his arms and carried him to the med bay.

 

Shiro would never forget the indignant yelp that came from Keith when he picked him up. He hadn’t broken his leg, simply his wrist, but Shiro decided they would get to the med bay faster this way.

 

He put Keith down on one of the examination tables before digging for the first aid kits. 

 

“Shouldn’t we call Coran?” Keith asked.

 

“I wouldn’t want to wake him up,” Shiro said. “Even though he is the only one here who really knows how this works.” Shiro dug through the kit.

 

Keith, who was more or less familiar with it, helped him, though he also said that the terminal by the door would call Coran over. Shiro did just that, though he still tried to tend to Keith.

 

Coran ran in a few minutes later, panting hard and looking like he’d run through the castle in that amount of time, which he had. “What happened?”

 

“Broke my wrist’” Keith simply said. How he managed to keep a straight face through the pain, Shiro would never know. Even he would have started crying by that point.

 

“I would ask why,” Coran said as he walked over, “but I have a feeling it has something to do about training.”

 

Coran examined Keith’s wrist, who hissed at the pain. Coran ignored the hissing. “An hour or two in a healing pod will do the trick, though I’ll keep you in until morning just to be safe. It looks like you might have not only broken it, but actually shattered the bones in it.”

 

Coran set up the pod, then Keith stepped into it, giving Shiro a sheepish look.

 

Shiro sighed. “The one time I try to do something and I ruin it.”

 

Coran gave him a pat on the back. “I think you did great. I’m sure Keith appreciated it. I know he stays up far too late to train, so someone joining him so he isn’t as alone is a fantastic thing to do.”

 

“Someone should probably make sure that he isn’t training so late in the first place,” Shiro added.

 

“Do you know who that someone should be?”

 

“I believe I do.” 

 

When asked at breakfast the next morning why he’d spent the night in a healing pod, Keith simply shrugged. It was Shiro who told them what had happened, it had taken about five minutes for everyone to stop laughing. 

 

Keith didn’t feel like he was being laughed at. If anything, he was laughing with them. It was a pretty funny way to get injured, as terrible as it sounded.

 

-

 

They could form Voltron effortlessly now.

 

Day by day, they were getting closer to the paladins of old.

 

Allura was infinitely proud of them, of the little family they had formed despite all odds.

 

-

 

Allura had struggled to find conversation topics with Keith, until she remembered something she’d been meaning to ask since Larg’an, but had forgotten to.

 

“Keith, tell me, your mother, Romelle, what does she look like?” 

 

Her question had confused him, until she’d explained that she had a cousin with the same name and was curious to see what she looked like for comparison, since on Altea, names usually stayed in a family. 

 

“I have pictures in my room, if you want to see,” he’d answered.

 

“Lead the way.”

 

Keith wasn’t intimidated by Allura being in his room. He had nothing to hide. She looked at the pictures, asking questions about his family. His eyes lit up whenever he talked about them and the circumstances that some of the pictures had been taken in. 

 

Allura nearly cried when she saw the wedding picture. To think that despite everything, an Altean and a Galra could find love and have the courage to have children.

 

Keith looked very much like his mother when he was Altean, and very much like his father when he was Galra. Her heart swelled looking at him now, knowing that he was a product of love between two people of a rivaling species. 

 

“Your parents clearly love each other,” she said. Keith smiled. “They also clearly love you.” she picked up another picture, the one of him with Mishka in his arms. “Who is this?”

 

She saw Keith’s eyes light up and knew she’d asked the right thing. “That’s my little sister! Her name’s Mishka and she’s going to be 5 soon. Like me, she prefers to be Galra.”

 

Keith talked about her for a while, Allura taking everything in. Mishka seemed like such a sweet girl. She couldn’t wait to meet her. 

 

Allura understood, while Keith never said it, that he was doing it for her. He was doing everything in his power so she wouldn’t have to grow up fearing the empire. So she would have the chance to grow up carefree and unafraid.

 

Allura respected that.

 

Allura promised herself that Keith would get to see Mishka grow up that way.

 

-

 

Pidge was the only person allowed to touch Keith’s ears.

 

He’d found her curled up asleep in odd places and carried her back to her room a few times, though once he’d found her crying. 

 

According to her laptop, it had been exactly a year since they’d left Earth. She missed home. She missed her mom. She missed her dad. She missed her brother. She missed the kind old lady down the street. She missed her friends. She missed her mom’s cooking and the jokes they’d make over supper. She missed her dog.

 

Keith had put her laptop down on the ground before engulfing her in a Keith hug. It wasn’t quite as good as a Hunk hug, but it was pretty awesome, too. 

 

He purred to help calm her down. He gently stroked her back, doing everything he did whenever Mishka would have a nightmare. 

 

“Next time you feel like crying,” he told her, “come find me alright? No one should cry alone. You can even pet my ears if you want. I’ve been told it’s calming.”

 

“Thanks.” She’d reached up to pet his ear, which was comforting. 

 

Lance squawked indignantly when Pidge pet Keith’s ear the next day after training. “You mean she can but I can’t?” 

 

“Yup,” Keith had replied.

 

Lance had Keith had developed a rivalry of sorts, though no one really understood it or how it had started. 

 

Pidge had come to him on the verge of tears of few other times after that. Once she’d calmed down, they would talk. About their families, about nothing and everything.

 

-

 

How many missions had it been? How many supply runs? They didn’t know anymore.

 

The day after a successful mission, they’d spend the morning relaxing together. On those mornings, they didn't bother changing into their civilian clothes until training in the afternoon, so they would play board games in their pyjamas. Even Allura and Coran would join them, they too in their night clothes.

 

They were a family. 

 

They would protect each other until the very end.

 

-

 

Pidge announced it had been a year and a half since they’d left Earth.

 

Silence fell.

 

Hunk wondered how his mothers felt.

 

Lance wondered how his family felt.

 

Shiro wondered when he would get the chance to tell his mother that he wasn’t dead.

 

Keith wondered when he would see his family again.

 

Allura wondered when her paladins would be happy. When they would get to go home.

 

Coran wondered if any of them knew just how proud he was of all of them.

 

All wondered when the war would be over.

 

All wondered when they would go home.

 

All decided that the universe had to be safe before they could go home.

 

-

 

A small ship flew through a system, its flight system badly damaged. 

 

“Come on,” the pilot muttered, gently stroking the command board, “I know you can make it. Base is just a few systems over we can make it come on.”

 

The ship didn’t listen to them. 

 

It crashed on a nearby moon. The pilot wasn’t hurt too badly, but they definitely had a concussion and maybe a bruised rib or two. 

 

Something in the communication had been knocked loose and now they were unable to call back base.

 

A few choice swear words later, they sent out a distress signal, hoping base would catch it and come get them.

 

-

 

Allura caught a distress signal coming from a moon in the system they were entering. She called the paladins and they decided to check it out. 

 

As they landed the castle ship, they could see someone standing outside the crashed vessel, flagging them down.

 

They approached the ship, Coran staying in the castle. The pilot looked injured. He also looked familiar, but the paladins couldn’t quite place where they’d seen him before.

 

When they got closer, they realised where they'd seen him- them before.

 

“There’s now way,” Hunk muttered.

 

The paladins found themselves frozen, feeling like they were seeing a ghost.

 

Keith stepped forward, feeling numb.

 

“Kiral?”


	17. Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check the added tags! One of the resons this chapter took so long is because I had to reign myself back because the this chapter got way too dark.  
> Another thing to note is that Kiral is nonbinary and goes by they/them pronouns.  
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Sam and Matt Holt had been prisoners of the Galra empire for well over a year. With Sam being old and Matt being injured, they’d been sent to a work camp (but not before being tortured relentlessly, they didn’t bring that up much). The camp had a fairly low kill rate, they’d met some people who’d been there for over ten years.

The cells could house about 6 people, though they were currently the only ones in it. Granted, they weren’t in it for long during the day, but it was to be just the two of them for once, their other cell mates having been transferred to another cell awhile back.

“What do you think happened to Shiro?” Matt asked, not for the first time.

“I can only hope he made it out,” Sam sighed. Or that he’s dead, he thought.

They heard footsteps in the hallway. Matt tried to see what was happening, but all he could see was a bunch of shadows. They knew that a new group of prisoners had been brought in the day before; this was likely them. 

Three of the prisoners were shoved into their cell. Their cuffs were undone and the door was closed. 

Matt and Sam had seen other people of their species, but didn’t know the name of it. They looked a little like squids, with their hair being tentacles.They were quiet, looking down at the floor and huddling together. They had a few injuries, but they could tell that they had been patched up. 

“Well that could have gone better,” one of the three, the one with the blue hair (tentacles?), sighed. 

“No fucking shit,” the other one, the one with purple hair, said.

“Language, Kestrel,” the tallest, the one with white hair, said.

“At least we’re not dead,” the one with the blue hair shrugged.

“I can’t tell if mom is the lucky one or not in this situation,” Kestrel replied. 

Sam shared a look with Matt.

“My name is Sam Holt, this is my son, Matt Holt’” he said. “What are your names?”

The trio seemed to acknowledge them for the first time. “I am Setka,” the white haired one said, “this is my daughter Kestrel and my youngest, Kiral.”

“How are your injuries?” Sam asked.

“They patched us up, for some reason,” Kiral said, showing off a bandage that covered their entire arm. “Though it’s bleeding again already,” they muttered as a black stain spread on it.

“A guard comes by every hour, ask him for more supplies to take care of it,” Matt said. “My leg was hurt when I got here and that’s how I managed to not bleed to death.” Matt didn’t mention the druids. It was for the best to not mention the druids.

“I’ll do that, thanks,” Kiral muttered.

“They probably won’t make you work with your injuries, especially if it’s still bleeding like yours is Kiral,” Sam said. 

“They like their prisoners healthy,” Setka sighed. “Unfortunately.”

“So,” Kestrel said, “how did humans end up in a place like this?”

“We were kidnapped during a space exploration mission,” Sam said, having told many people the same thing over the past few months. “What about you?”

“Our base was attacked and we were taken prisoner,” Setka replied.

“I might have heard about something like that happening yesterday when I was working,” Matt mentioned. “It’s a rebellion base, right?”

“Yup.” Kestrel seemed oddly casual about the situation, though by now the Holts had seen enough to know that this was a common coping mechanism.

Just then, a Galra soldier passed by. Matt flagged him down, nearly giving Setka a heart attack. 

“Could you get some bandages for them?” Matt asked pointing at Kiral, “they’re still bleeding.”

The guard looked at them and Kiral showed their bandaged arm, who was now clearly still bleeding through it, especially since Splatyan blood was black.

“I’ll be right back,” the guard said.

Kiral nearly whistled. “Never thought Galra could be so nice,” they looked at Setka and Kestrel. “No offense to your in-laws.”

Kestrel let out a dry laugh.

Setka simply sighed, telling himself to be strong.

You’ve been through this once.

You can do it again.

You have to be strong.

Your kids are depending on you.

-

The crew that had been sent to check out Larg’an set course back for Lyra after sending in their reports. 

“Can someone go check on our survivor?” The captain asked.

“I’ll go,” one of the engineers said.

He made his way to the back of the ship, where their lone survivor was strapped in one of the seats. Her eyes were downcast, holding onto the child in her arms. The child, like her, hadn't made a noise. 

He sat down next to her. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she said quietly, the first thing she’d said since they’d found her.

“How are you holding up?”

“My family’s gone, what do you think?”

“Do you have family in another base? We’ll take you there.”

“I have some aunts on Lyra.”

“That’s great.” Silence fell. “I know talking is hard right now, but if you need to, I’m not moving from this spot.”

“Thanks.” She didn’t say anything more.

-

The guard was back quickly, handing out medical supplies for all three of the new arrivals. “If you’re still bleeding tomorrow morning,” he told them, “tell me and we’ll take you guys to the med bay.”

“Thanks,” Kiral said as they took the supplies.

Setka undid the bandages, the humans watching curiously. The huge burn and gash on Kiral’s arm didn’t look good. Making sure no one was watching, Setka transferred some of his energy to the arm to help it heal. He wasn’t quite as good at it than Myrna was, but it would have to do. Once he was done, he bandaged it up.

After small talk between them and the Holts, they went to sleep. It would be long days ahead of them. They might as well get sleep while they still could.

-

The Siongs, along with the others that had stayed behind in the shelter, prepared to ambush the Galra soldiers. Seiran gave Kili to Myrna and told her to hang back. “Keep him safe,” she told her daughter. Myrna, unlike the rest of the family, wasn’t a fighter. She would hung back and hide in the Splati until it was over. 

She was against it, but someone had to protect Kili. He was just a baby, not even two years old.

The Galra soldiers entered what seemed to be an empty shelter covered with odd liquid on the ground. They were taken by surprise by the rebels coming out of hiding, but they quickly got control of the situation.

Seiran blocked a shot aimed at Kestrel. The mother died protecting her child.

Kiral was shot in the arm, making them virtually useless for the rest of the battle. The rebels were surrounded, the galra having gathered them about in a circle. 

“Surrender,” one of the soldiers said, “we don’t want to kill you.”

Setka glanced at the bodies, namely the one of his wife, then back at the soldiers. “I think we have a different definition of kill,” he deadpanned.

“Please,” the soldier said. “It’s the last thing we want to do. Think of your family. All of you.”

Setka looked over at Kestrel supporting Kiral’s weight, whose arm looked mangled. There were other people injured as well, who were all looking at him.

“We’ll do everything in our power to make sure you all stay together,” the soldier continued.

Setka knew he would be considered the leader of this group and would likely be singled out and either tortured or killed as an example for what happened to rebels. 

“Dad,” the look on Kestrel’s face broke his heart. “Please.”

Swallowing his pride and accepting a fate worse than death, he surrendered.

-

Myrna kept playing the scene of her mother being shot dead, of her fiancée likely losing their arm, of her father surrendering to their worse enemy. To her twin sister being taken captive by people who would do things that were worse than death to her. Her father, who would have to relive everything.

He’d lost his spine last time, what would he lose this time? She shuddered at the thought.

Her only solace was that little Kilian was alive and was young enough that he wouldn’t remember this. 

When they’d all been dragged out of the shelter and she was sure that there were no more soldiers, she’d left the splati she’d been hiding in. She couldn’t move or think. Kili was babbling, unable to comprehend or understand the horror that had just happened. 

Now, the man sitting next her on the small lyran ship, sat silently next to her, simply being there for support, which she appreciated. She was in shock, she knew that, she knew what to do to treat it, but now all she can do is sit there and stare at her shoes as if they were the most interesting thing in the universe.

A few hours later, they arrived in Lyra. She did have aunts on Lyra, she just hadn’t mentioned one of them was none other than Romelle “Roma” Siong. 

The man asked her what her name was, so she could be on record. “Myrna Seiran Siong,” she managed to answer. The man froze for a second, then kept going asking questions about registration. She’d lost all of her papers in the attack and despite her saying that her aunts had copies, he still insisted on at least getting her new papers in the time that it would take for her other ones to be recovered from Larg’an. 

When they arrived at Lyra, someone came to drive her to her aunt’s. They were waiting for her. 

Granp was waiting for her on the front porch. He gave her a tight bear hug. “I’m so glad you’re alright.” He took Kili from her arms and led her inside. 

When she walked in, she was assaulted by a flurry of aunts, uncles, grandparents, you name it. They were all so glad at least she was alive. A blue candle was extinguished.

“Stay here as long as you need,” Romelle told her, “I’ll provide for everything you and Kili will need until you’re better, don’t worry about work.”

Myrna hadn’t been worried about having a place to live in Lyra; it was rare for Altean children to move out of the home they’d grown up in. 

-

Kiral’s arm hadn’t stopped bleeding the next morning. They were (understandably) terrified. “Being taken to the med bay” didn’t sound reassuring at all.

Matt told them that he’d been in the same situation when he’d first arrived, showing off the wicked scar right below his knee.

“I couldn’t walk for weeks, still can’t really,” he said. “As much as I hate to say it, they do a great job at making sure you don’t lose your limbs. They don’t want to waste cybernetics on expendable prisoners like us.”

“Good to know, I guess,” Kiral sighed. 

One of the guards, the same one as last night, passed by their cell with more medical supplies. “How’s your arm?” he asked.

“Still bleeding,” Kiral said, showing the nearly black bandages, along with the pile of (completely) black bandages they’d placed in the corner of the cell. 

“Alright, I’ll send someone to take you to the med bay,” the guard replied before muttering something into his comm.

Kiral just hoped they wouldn’t regret saying that.

-

Myrna woke up shaking every night. She hadn’t had proper sleep in days, and all that kept her going was little Kili. 

One night, she wandered into the main room of the house, where she found Romelle holding a sniffling Mishka in her arms. She hadn’t taken the news well either; Keith, or Keef, since she couldn't make the “th” sound properly yet, was her entire world. 

Wordlessly, Myrna pet Mishka’s ears. The toddler eventually purred herself to sleep, a rather common thing for young Galra.

“Can’t sleep?” Romelle whispered.

“Yeah,” Myrna replied, still petting Mishka. “How did you do it? When Setka was taken?”

Romelle looked down at Mishka, making sure she was really asleep. “I didn’t take it well either, I remember crying and being unable to sleep for days. I remember hearing my father saying: `you shouldn’t hope for him to be alive, rather, you should be hoping for him to be dead.` I know that sounds terrible, but considering he was an Altean in the hands of the Galra, I knew he was better off dead. When he came back, broken like he was, I still thought that. He’d just barely started going back to who he was before he was taken, and now he’s been taken again. This time though, I want him to alive. I want Kestrel to be alive. I want Kiral to be alive. You just have to hope, but you also can’t let that hope consume you. I know it’s probably not what you wanted to hear, but it’s all I can honestly tell you.”

Myrna weighed her aunt’s words. She was right. “Yeah,” she muttered, “yeah.” Then she laughed a little. “Great speech coming from none other than the leader of the Rebellion.”

Romelle laughed. “It’s nearly three in the morning, I don’t give good speeches at three in the morning. No one does.”

“I guess so,” Myrna nodded.

“We should get some sleep,” Romelle sighed. 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to,” Myrna sighed. 

“You can sleep in my room if you don’t want to sleep alone,” Romelle said.

“That would be great, actually.”

-

In comparison to what Setka had gone through before, digging for ore was nothing. It wasn’t everything they did, but since he was “strong and fit” that’s what he did. Kestrel was with him, while Kiral still had not returned from the med bay. Sam had told him that he’d seen people go to the med bay and never come back. That wasn’t reassuring at all. 

It took almost three days for Kiral to come back from the med bay. They looked pale and sick and wouldn’t speak about what had happened. If anything, their arm looked better. They were still unable to really use it, but at least it wasn’t bleeding anymore.

Because of their handicap, they were assigned to cleaning and maintenance in the guard’s quarters. Kiral took this opportunity to watch. They watched the guards, memorising their patterns, where they slept, where they hung out. A prisoner (slave) like them went unnoticed. 

They relayed any information they got to their cellmates, though they kept quiet about everything they learnt. Sam and Matt had been here longer and already knew quite a bit, while Setka had experience in Galra prisons (though he didn’t mention he’s been tortured before, but Kestrel knew). 

They had no real plans on what to do yet aside from one thing: survive. 

“How’s your arm?” a guard asked Kiral one day, nearly making him jump out of his skin. 

“It’s fine,” they replied, eyes downcast.

“Hey now, no need to be afraid,” the guard said sweetly. Kiral’s heart raced. This was not happening. “I won’t hurt you.”

Kiral recognised the voice as the one who had sent them to the med bay. Because of that, they’d been thoroughly “examined”; they guessed there were ulterior motives to that. 

The guard leaned in and Kiral closed their eyes. “Just get it over with,” they thought.

“Hey!” someone shouted. “Marinal, if you want a slave of that kind, do it on your off hours! Let that damned kid clean after your fucking mess.” 

The guard whirled around. “Come on, not even a few minutes?” 

“Fuck off and get to your post.” 

“Yes sir,” the guard walked away.

Kiral recognised their “saviour’s” armour as the one of a commander. Shit.

“You alright kid?” The commander asked.

Kiral nodded. “Thank you sir.”

“What’s your name?”

“Kiral, sir.”

“Be careful out here, kid. Some of my men can’t see the difference between the bed slaves and the prisoners.”

Kiral nodded and the commander walked away. Kiral kept cleaning.

What had almost happened didn’t sink in until they were back in their cell. They always arrived earlier than the others, so they were left alone with their breakdown. 

It was Kestrel who comforted them. 

“We can’t let them break us,” she said, though every day she came back from the mine with more scars than the night before, “we can’t let them win.”

Setka barely spoke anymore, sinking back into his old habits. At least his spine was still intact.

Sam and Matt mostly kept to themselves. They’d long given up on trying to escape, but seeing this family break apart hurt. They made effort to keep the morale up.

“How did you know we were human?” Matt asked one evening. “When we first met, you said we were human, but how did you know? We as a species have never left our solar system.”

“We met some right before we were taken,” Kestrel replied. “Now that I think of it, when I first met you I thought you were Pidge! You two look almost exactly the same!” 

Matt and Sam were pale. “Pidge?” Matt asked. “You met a human named Pidge?”

“Yup,” Kestrel said, “she was with Shiro, Lance and Hunk. Pretty nice people, except for the fact that Lance shot my cousin. Why did you know her?”

“Pidge is the nickname I gave to my sister,” Matt said.

“Oh.”

“And Shiro, what did he look like?” Kestrel gave Matt an exact description of the Shiro he knew.

“What are the odds,” Sam muttered. 

“We have to get to them,” Matt declared. “I don’t know about you dad, but I can’t let Katie alone out there.”

“Neither can I,” Sam agreed. “Neither can I.”

“Good to know we all agree on that,” Setka said. “We have to get out of here.”

“How?” Kestrel asked. “You may have done it once, but you yourself admitted that you got lucky.”

“We keep an eye out for any escape routes. We can’t hurry this, we can’t let anyone get suspicious of us. Especially not you Kiral; you’re our only link to the outside world.”

Kiral nodded. They’d known long before that night that their role was important. 

“Just be careful Kiral,” Matt said. “What almost happened to you might actually happen.”

Kiral nodded; they knew that as well. They’d gotten lucky and knew that if that commander hadn’t been there… well, they didn’t like to think about it. 

Quietly and slowly, they carefully planned an escape. Matt had also been assigned to cleaning because of his bad leg, and he’d also been observing. He knew there was a hangar where pods came and went. While it was guarded, it wasn’t guarded that heavily. They could probably overpower the guards, but they wouldn't get a chance to. 

Prisoners were guarded at all hours of the day. Somehow they had to get past the guards and get rid of their restraints, make a run for the pods and escape with one. That was the unlikely thing about their escape plan and would likely end with them killed or worse. 

-

Myrna eventually felt well enough to go back to work. Romelle suggested that instead of being a nurse at the local hospital, she teach about nursing at a nearby school. Myrna jumped on the occasion, having always wanted to work with children. 

She enjoyed her work, she really did, but she also missed the constant hustle of hospitals. She also knew that she wasn’t well enough mentally to handle losing patients, so she stuck with teaching kids and patching up playground injuries. 

She also helped out at the Siong household as much as she could. Romelle had taken up the habit of bringing Mishka with her at work, but there was still a lot to do. While Granp was active, his back “just isn’t what it used to be,” so she helped him with chores. One of her aunts also taught her how to cook, since it was something her mother had insisted on doing. “No one cooks in my kitchen,” she’d say.

She also took care of Kili, who seemed to be glad to be receiving so much attention. She was glad he was young enough to not remember what had happened in that hangar, but she also lamented the fact that he was too young to remember his parents and his older sister. She wondered if he would consider her as just another aunt when he was older, or perhaps even he would consider her his mother. She wasn’t sure which was worse. She would love him either way.

-

Kiral was glad to have not run into more guards that mistook them for a bed slave. They’d also been misgendered more times than they could count, but they didn’t mention it anymore. That would make them stand out too much.

They’d also made friends with other “cleaners”. They barely ran into each other, but when they did, they worked more slowly so they could have more time to talk. However, whenever a guard would walk by, they would quiet and work quickly again. Once the guard was out of earshot, they’d continue. To Kiral’s surprise, there were a lot of rumours among both the guards and the prisoners, even the two would often inform each other. They also learnt that the work camp’s “low kill rate” was caused by the fact that there were so many prisoners, the amount killed per day was nothing. 

There was also the fact that a lot of the prisoners weren’t considered prisoners, which also lowered the percentage of kills. That was reassuring. (It wasn’t.) 

Kiral kept a low profile, cleaning and observing. They were never threatened again, but they’d seen it happen a few times. 

They were again accosted by that commander. This time though, he was more aggressive. “Why don’t you finish up this hallway and then come with me?” Kiral’s heart hardened. They’d somehow expected this.

They knew that if they disobeyed, something much worse would happen. 

“Yes, sir.”

As they (as slowly as possible) finished up the hallway, they prepared themselves for what was to come. Sure, they’d laid with Myrna a few times, but they’d never gotten far. 

Eventually though, they finished. The commander led them to a room nearly all the way across the base, passing guards giving the commander a knowing look, often times cheering him on. Others looked almost disappointed in the commander, though Kiral couldn’t understand why. This seemed to be such a common practice among the soldiers, why in the quiznack would it be frowned upon if a commander did it?

The door was locked behind them. Kiral was ready for whatever would come next. 

“Please, sit,” the commander said, motioning toward a chair.

Kiral did so, refusing to let their guard down. He was just trying to get them comfortable.

The commander sat across from them. Kiral stared at the floor. 

“After our run in the other day,” he started, “I realised I recognised you from somewhere and checked your file. You were taken in Larg’an, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Please, call me Martek. I had a brother on Larg’an, you know, the froshak decided he wanted to live with the rebels. He’s dead now.”

Kiral didn’t respond. What were they supposed to answer? 

“Were you an actual rebel or just a civilian?” Martek asked. 

Well, that was an obvious trap question. Not very subtle, mister commander. “Just a civilian, sir.” Kiral said.

Martek didn’t respond, only staying silent and looking through some papers. Kiral looked around the room, seeing no bed, but knowing it could happen anytime (or anywhere), they kept their guard up. 

“What are your duties for today?” Martek asked. 

“Cleaning,” Kiral simply said. 

“I won’t keep you from it, then. Unless you were done for the day?”

“I was, sir,” Kiral answered, hating the fact that it was true. 

“I’ll bring you back to your cell, then.” 

Martek did just that, keeping his hand on Kiral’s back. Their skin crawled. They wished nothing more than to shower right now, but they only got that once a week at best. Instead, they rubbed some Splati on their back. 

The Galra thought that Splatyans couldn’t secrete splati if their tentacles were cut off, but they could. Kiral guessed it was something they’d managed to hide from the Galra, a good achievement for their species.

They weren’t sure what to think of what had just happened. Was Martek a rebel? Was he a rebel apologist? Where had Kiral seen him before?

Matt joined him, telling him about the mess in one of the kitchens. During that, Kiral tried to figure out where they’d seen Martek before.

It was when Sam, Kestrel and Setka joined them that it clicked.

“Setka,” Kiral asked, “did Kohler have a brother?” 

-

Martek was pulled aside by one of his lieutenants after he’d exited his office and took them to a broom closet. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she fumed. “You speak against the rape of prisoners, already making yourself stand out, and then you still do it? Do you want your head off your shoulders that badly?”

“I wanted to speak with that kid because he looked familiar,” Martek explained himself, “he’s from Larg’an.”

“And? Not everyone from Larg’an will know Kohler.”

Martek sighed, “It was an ill advised move, I know.” 

“Tell me about it. Our cover’s gonna be blown at this rate, so fucking watch yourself.”

“At this rate people are gonna think we fuck in broom closets,” Martek hissed.

“Not as bad as people thinking we’re rebels,” she hissed back.

“Soreen, listen, I know it was a bad move, I just wanted to talk to the kid. Won’t do it again.”

“You better fucking not,” she warned him. 

She stormed out of the closet, ignoring the stares of passing guards and slaves. Martek left it as well, going in the opposite direction. He had things to do.

-

Setka froze. “Kohler mentioned a brother, yes,” he replied. “Why?”

“What was his name?”

“Martok? No, Martek, that's right; his name was Martek,” Setka said. “Again, why?”

“I met him today,” Kiral said, “he’s the one who stopped me from getting raped the other day. He took me to his office today.”

“Oh no,” Kestrel gasped.

“Nonono, nothing like that happened, don’t worry. He just asked me if I was from Larg’an and then let me go.”

“Good,” she nodded.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about Martek having a rebel brother,” Matt said. 

“Let’s put that information aside for now; it won’t help us much,” Setka declared. “Kohler had a falling out with his brother years ago; one of them stayed loyal to the rebellion and the other defected to the empire.”

They still had to escape somehow, but for now, all they could do was watch and wait.

-

When Myrna woke up, she went on with her normal routine until she saw her granp giving her a pitiful look. She’d gotten looks like that from her aunts, but never from her granp.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“We’re the eight of the first trimester of the surayn,” he said.

She froze. She would have dropped her glass of water if Granp hadn’t taken it out of her hand. 

Today was the day she was supposed to be married. She cried in his arms and he comforted her. Today should be one of the happiest days of her life, instead, she didn’t even know if her fiancée was alive.

-

Sometimes, Kiral wished they were dead. At least then Myrna would have had closure. She wouldn’t have to worry about their fate everyday. She could move on. 

Other times, Kiral was glad they were alive. They were glad that they had a chance to go back to Myrna, to help other prisoners, to make plans to escape. Kestrel and Setka came back looking worse every day, and they all knew that Sam was on borrowed time. 

Today however, was not one of those times. They’d been deemed trustworthy enough to clean some of the more… private areas. This place might be a work camp, but there was much more happening behind closed doors. 

Today for example, they cleaning out the cell of a (dead) tortured prisoner. Kiral just did their job. They tried not to throw up, and somehow managed not to. 

Once they were done with that cell, they were told to clean out another one like that, then to another back room.

Kiral could never bring themselves to properly describe what they saw in that room. They just hoped they would never end up tied up in there. They knew there were guards who had an eye for them, and that worried them, since they would end up in that room.

Kiral didn’t speak of what they saw, but Matt seemed to somehow know they’d been in there. “You too, huh?” he’d said.

“Yeah,” they’d replied.

Neither they or Matt liked to talk about that place. 

No one did.

-

They were all worried when Kiral wasn’t in their cell when they got back. They were always there before them, but even Matt didn’t know anything. They all assumed the worst. They all knew Kiral had been accosted by guards multiple times. 

“Dad,” Kestrel asked on the fifth day in a row that Kiral was still gone, “how did you get out last time?”

-

Setka had not been able to use his legs, but they still hadn’t stopped using him. He was Altean, they wanted to know where the others were; they wouldn’t let him go. He said nothing. He wouldn’t betray his family. He would die before that. 

He’d heard an explosion. He heard screaming and there was people running, both prisoner and guard. Someone tried to free him, but he told them to run. His spine was broken, he’d just be dead weight. 

“Hell fucking no I’m not leaving you behind,” someone said.

Kohler. Kohler, that damned idiot, was there, pulling him off the floor and hauling him over his shoulders. 

-

“For some reason, that was different than what I expected,” Kestrel said. 

“I had a broken spine, did you really think I somehow fought myself out of there?”

“Every kid sees their dad as a hero,” she shrugged.

“We can’t wait for your friend to get us out of here though,” Sam replied.

“Not like he can do it anyway; he’s dead,” Kestrel said. 

“So what do we do?” Matt asked.

“I was going to say that Kiral can spread some splati around so they could sneak out and take the guards by surprise, but with them being gone, they couldn’t do that.

“I’ll try to find out where they are,” Matt said. 

Matt had no luck finding Kiral. It was like they’d vanished, which they might have, considering everything.

-

Soreen had snatched Kiral away from his duties one afternoon, seeing him (her? them?) she wasn’t sure, (she made a note to ask). Either way, that kid would be a perfect test subject. Their (better to stick with that if she wasn't sure) arm was mangled, but still more or less usable, which was perfect for her.

The kid had panicked, but Soreen always had sedatives on hand. The kid was also lightweight enough (splatyan don’t have bones) that she could just haul them over her shoulder and carry them to her lab. She got a few questioning looks, but they were used to it by now.

The first thing she had to do was to heal any lingering injuries, which would quickly be done with a quintessence bath. Their arm healed a little, but nothing significant. 

She let the kid soak for a few hours, doing them good. 

When she got back from her rounds with her other experiments, the kid as awake as the quintessence bath would allow them to be. It had that effect on people. 

“I’ll get you out in a minute buddy, give me a minute,” she told them. 

She had them fished out and put down on one of the tables, then she strapped them down, because policy required her subjects to be restrained. The kid fought them vainly, still high off the quintessence and the sedatives.

“My name’s Soreen can you tell me yours?” she asked.

Still way too high to respond properly. She noted that it had such effects on Splatyans. She’d also have to check if they were a mix of something, since that could affect it as well. With nothing else to do, she pulled out a chair and sat next to the table, waiting for them to sober up. 

It took about an hour before they were coherent enough to answer the simplest of questions.

“My name’s Soreen, can you tell me yours?” she asked again.

“W-where?”

“Your name, then I’ll tell you that.”

“Kiral Desrol,” the managed to say after a few attempts.

“You’re in my lab and I’m going to try a few things on you. If everything goes right you’ll be able to use your arm better than you could before.” 

They fought their restraints harder, breathing fast and panicked.

“Don’t worry,” she reassured them, “it won't hurt too much.”

-

Kilian was starting to walk. Little Mishka, who was still a little unsteady on her feet, would help him around and they would waddle together. At least, until Kili fell over and started crying, which in turn would make Mishka cry. 

Thankfully, reassuring the toddlers was easy. “The better you get a walking, the less you’ll fall.” Mishka would cheer while Kili would babble in agreement. He knew very few words, so his main method of communication was babbles that only Myrna and Mishka seemed to understand.

-

Everything hurt. Kiral had lost track of what their captor (Soren? Sorean? No, Soreen,) was doing. All they knew was that it hurt. Everything hurt. Every muscle and ligament, hell, even their hair hurt. Out of all though, their arm hurt the most. It felt like it was on fire. 

When they weren’t strapped to that table, they were in that vat of weird liquid or somewhere else. 

It was extremely hard to stay focused on anything. They weren’t sure what Soreen was using to keep them sedated, but it worked. Their mind was constantly swimming, but they were pretty sure that it did nothing for the pain.

Sometimes, she would strap them down and wait for them to sober up. She would then ask questions, though they often couldn’t answer. 

How long had they been here? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? They couldn’t tell. 

They wondered if the others wondered where they were. 

They wondered if the others taught they were dead.

They wondered if it would be better if they were dead.

-

Matt kept an eye out for Kiral and for information about their whereabouts. He ended up cleaning up in that room and he stayed in there longer than he normally would, trying to see if Kiral was among them. He saw no sign of Kiral in there, which was reassuring, but it was also unnerving. Where were they?

After a few more days, Matt heard from another cleaner that she’d seen a splatyan matching Kiral’s description being hauled off by a druid. When asked which druid, she just shrugged. 

That was bad. There were a few druids in the camp, some having worse reputations than others. 

When he relayed that to the others, Setka had an immediate reaction. 

“We have to get them out. Who knows what that druid will do.”

“He’s right,” Kestrel agreed. “Druids can do all sorts of things to people, can make them lose their minds, can make them do things they would never do.”

“How?” Sam asked. “When we’re not in the tunnels we’re here.”

“Leave it to me,” Setka said. “You think this is the first time I’ve instilled a revolution?” 

Sam and Matt weren’t sure if they should be scared of Setka’s smile or not.

They were just glad he was on their side.

-

Kiral was now in what seemed to be a training simulator of sorts. There was a gladiator, and they were expected to fight it, but with what? 

Their arm hurt more than it ever had before. It looked like it had healed, but it still felt like it was on fire. There was also some odd symbols on it, which terrified them. 

The gladiator lunged at them, and Kiral stepped out of the way. From what they could tell, it was maybe level 2 or 3, but nothing higher than 5. 

They weren’t that great of a fighter even with a gun, so they were screwed.

There was a silver lining, however, since that vat of stuff had made their tentacles grow back, so now they could make splati without worrying.

They hid in the splati, circling the confused gladiator. 

When they left it while behind the gladiator, their arm moved on its own and (somehow) chopped off the arm of the gladiator. 

Kiral recoiled in fear at what they’d done, but the gladiator kept coming. Kiral fought back with newfound fighting abilities. 

They were aware that they were going to make that movement, they just didn’t know how or where they’d learnt those movements. Their best guess was that this was Soreen’s goal. 

They beat the gladiator without much effort.

There was a full minute where something happened. Then, Kiral started having trouble breathing. 

Before they could understand what was happening, everything went black.

-

Soreen grinned. Everything had gone according to plan. After years and many (unsuccessful) attempts, it was perfect. Granted, her subject could have more military training, but this was enough to prove her idea and bring volunteers forward.

Not only could her nanobots restore and heal wounds that altean healing pods couldn’t, they could also make a civilian such as Kiral a soldier.

This was going to revolutionise the way soldiers were trained.

This would give the rebellion a fighting chance.

-

Matt was assigned to cleaning one of labs, which he hated almost as much as having to clean up that room. This lab was Soreen’s, who was, by far, the sanest of the druids. 

She had this huge vat of liquid in the back of her lab and this time, there was something in it. When she wasn’t looking and Matt was close to the vat, he took a close look inside.

It was undeniably a person. They had something strapped to their face and the tubes connected to it leading to a tank. There were other tubes and wires connected to them. 

Matt’s heart almost stopped. It was undeniably Kiral in there. He continued cleaning, but also looked around the lab for any clues of what she could possibly be doing to them.

He found nothing.

When he returned to the cell, he told the others of what he’d seen. 

“We have to get them out of there,” Kestrel said. 

“A few more days,” Setka said, “give me a few more days.”

“What are you even planning?” Sam asked, unsure if he wanted to know.

Setka only smiled.

-

Kiral found themselves in the arena again. They moved faster, better, their body responding better than it ever had. They weren’t sure what Soreen was doing exactly, but they guessed it had something to do about their performance. Their arm also didn’t hurt anymore, which was a plus.

They could easily take down a level 20 gladiator now. They would be knocked out between sessions and would spend most of their time either in that vat or in a (rather luxurious) cell. They weren’t complaining, but they wished they could see the others. They were probably worried sick about them. No, they knew they were worried sick about them, even Matt and Sam.

While they were comfortable, they were still a prisoner. They were an experiment. A successful one, but still an experiment.

Kiral was sure Soreen was doing other things aside from testing them in the arena, but at least they were knocked out during it.

They wanted to see Myrna again. They wanted to hold her. 

They didn’t know what would come next, but they had heard about a transfer to another base. That terrified them. They had to get out. They had to.

They didn’t know how.

There was no obvious way out of their cell, and certainly not out of the arena. Their only chance was while they were on the vat, though they were really out of it while they were in there.

It was their only chance. 

They only had one shot.

They couldn’t mess it up.

They had to get back home, back to Myrna.

-

Setka had been busy in the tunnels. Sure, he dug for ore like everyone else, but he also found other rebels and muttered to them.The ones from Larg’an who’d been taken with him were the first ones he sought out. They agreed to work with him, and they talked to others, who talked to others, who talked to others.

From what he could tell, no guards knew about this yet, which was a small miracle. 

A few days after he’d Sam his plan, he told him to be ready when he heard a whistle. He told Matt to stand by, and that when the coast was clear, to alert other cleaners. Setka or Kestrel would join him to break Kiral out of Soreen’s lab.

When the whistle blew, chaos spread through the tunnel. Prisoners turned their tools to the guards, broke their cuffs, ran for the surface. They look disorganised, but they’d been organising this for months; long before Setka joined them (though he had helped to quicken the process). 

If they succeeded, they would be free. If they failed, they would die.

While the guards were initially taken by surprise, they quickly organised and fought the prisoners. While the guards fell, so did the prisoners. Their saving grace was that there were very few guards this time of the surayn. 

If Setka was right, today was the eight of the first trimester of the surayn.

When the guards were taken care of, Setka rushed, along with Sam, who had insisted on tagging along, toward where Matt was, while Kestrel lead the prisoners (rebels) to the hangar with the pods. No ship would leave until everyone was on board. 

-

As much as she hated saying it, Soreen did enjoy beating the shit out of the guards that came to protect her. She could defend herself, thank you very much. She knew there were some prisoners headed her way, so she waited for them. 

She looked back at Kiral, who was recovering in the quintessence vat. The lights went out, then the generator kicked in. She groaned. The generator couldn’t handle the equipment needed to take Kiral out of there, so she’d have to do it manually. 

Martek came in then, the last thing she needed.

“What are you doing?” He asked when he saw the bodies. 

“I guess you could say I’m something like a double agent,” she said.

Martek’s jaw hit the floor. “You were just pretending to be one so you could flush out the rebels in our ranks.”

“Or, you know,” she shrugged, “the other way around.”

“I can’t believe I trusted you,” Martek shook his head, grabbing his gun. 

“Your brother was a much better man than you could ever dream to be.”

Soreen saw Matt and a few others enter the lab. 

She froze when she saw one of them. Sure, he looked like a Splatyan, but it was undeniably him. Setka Mriokan Siong. 

Martek whirled around and shot at the prisoners. One of them, another altean disguised as a splatyan, threw up a shield and the bullet ricocheted back to him. He groaned when it hit his shoulder. 

-

Setka would recognise the bastard Martek anywhere. Not only was that man the reason why he constantly shifted so he could hide the massive scar on his face, he was the one who’s initially broken his spine. 

For years, Setka had wanted to at least punch the guy in the face, but had never gotten the chance to. This was it. 

Setka dropped his shift and stepped toward Martek. He easily disarmed him, then grabbed him by the collar. 

“Y-You’re-!” Martek managed to say.

“Yup, that’s me.” Setka smiled right before letting go of his collar and landing a mean right hook. 

Martek fell to the floor, unconscious.

Kestrel whistled. “Nice job dad.”

“I’ve been wanting to do that for years,” he replied, his voice full of satisfaction. 

“We should get going,” Sam said. “There isn’t much time.”

“Kiral first,” Kestrel said.

“The equipment won’t work with the generator; we have to drag them out of there manually.”

“Or we can just break the vat,” Kestrel said. 

Everyone looked at her in stunned silence. 

“Let’s do it,” Soreen said with what was probably way too much enthusiasm.

Kestrel walked up to the vat and punched it. Surprisingly, it worked. 

The quintessence flooded the room, Kestrel grabbing Kiral when they rushed by. Soreen helped her get everything off of them, then Kestrel hauled them over her shoulder. 

“Let’s go,” Setka declared. 

They ran to the escape pods, opened a wormhole, and flew through, along with most if not all of the other prisoners.

-

After two or so weeks, the prisoners established themselves in a trading post. There, they organised. Those who were from the same galaxies took pods and headed home. Others, like Setka, rent out a house in the time it would take them to safely contact the rebellion, which could take quite a while. 

In the meantime, Kestrel and Kiral found a job which involved getting supplies for a few of the merchants at the trade post. Setka worked at the infirmary, while Soreen, Sam and Matt helped out a merchant. 

Contacting the rebellion was difficult, especially in a place as high-risk as a trading post. 

Kiral had never gone on a supply run alone yet, but they’d had to since their bigger ship had broken down and Kestrel was doing maintenance on it. It was only a short run a few galaxies over that the autopilot could handle, so they would be fine, Kestrel had assured them.

Of course though, after they’d collected what they needed, the ship decided it would be a great time to break down.

They managed to crash land on a small moon and emitted a distress signal, hoping the trading post would recognise it as one of its ships and come get them.

What they weren’t expecting, was for a massive (and familiar) ship to land in front of them. They froze when they saw the paladins. They froze when they saw the red paladin. 

As the paladins and the princess stepped closer, neither party could say anything.

Finally, it was Keith who broke the silence.

“Kiral?”

Kiral found themselves unsure of how to respond. “The one and only!” they replied.

Keith still stepped forward, still in shock, then practically jumped Kiral. They hugged back, holding on tightly. 

Keith had survived. Keith had become a paladin of Voltron. 

-

Keith had only spent a few days with Kiral, but they were a part of the family. 

When Keith let go, Allura was next to them. 

“We will take you back to wherever you came from,” she said. “We might even be able to fix your ship.”

“That would be much appreciated,” they replied. 

-

On the flight back to the trading post, Kiral didn’t speak much of what they’d been through. They weren’t in the mood for that. 

When Kiral saw Pidge again, they immediately saw Matt in her. They decided to not tell her about her father and brother, wanting to see the pure reaction of it. 

Keith hung around them, practically refusing to them out of his sight. If Kiral was being honest, they didn’t want Keith out of their sight either.

It would be one hell of a reunion, that was for sure.


	18. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally planned for the last chapter, chapter 20, to go up today, but I was unfortunatly ridiculously busy during the holidays. Instead, I give you chapter 18 and hope you enjoy it!

The trading post, as Kiral had told them, was only a few galaxies over and had very little galra presence. They were still careful, but this was actually one of the posts that they’d gone on before for supplies. 

Kestrel was in the hangar, fixing up her ship when a small, nondescript pod landed. She didn’t pay much attention until she heard Kiral whistle at her to come down from her perch. She joined them then looked around, not seeing their ship anywhere. 

“What did you do?” she asked. “Where’s your ship?”

“Just come on, let’s go,” Kiral as excited as a small child showing off a bug they found. They grabbed her arm, eagerly pulling her along.

Kestrel let herself be dragged, humouring them. She froze when she saw who was walking out of that pod.

“KEITH!” 

Her baby cousin was alright. Her baby cousin safe, and healthy.

“KESTREL!” 

His cousin was safe. His cousin had survived.

Keith leapt into her arms, and she eagerly caught him. She held on tightly, falling to her knees after Keith got too heavy. She had one hand on the back of his head and the other on his back, while both of his arms were tightly wrapped around her chest. 

They were both crying, not caring about the curious onlookers. They’d both believed the other had died. They were alive. They were alive and breathing and right there. They clung onto each other, refusing to let go. 

Kiral and the paladins gave the two some space. They almost cried themselves. They were glad at least one of Keith’s family was alive. 

“Wait, if Kestrel’s here,” Hunk said, “are the others here?”

“Yup,” Kiral replied, “Setka’s here, and there’s also someone else here that I’m sure one of you guys will be happy to see.”

“What do you mean?” Pidge asked.

“You’ll see when we get home,” Kiral replied. 

Eventually, when Keith and Kestrel recovered enough to be coherent, they headed back to the house that the Siongs had been living in for several months now. 

“We’ve got visitors,” Kiral cheered when they got there. 

Soreen came at the entrance, curious. She had never met any of the paladins, so she truly had no idea who they were, but she recognised one of them. Without a word to the new arrivals, she left through the back door to go the shop down the road. There, she begged for the manager to let two of his employees take the rest of the week off and let her do their job instead. When she mentioned that family was visiting, he let both the pair and her take as long as they needed. Soreen nearly cried, thanking the man for his kindness, who only replied that family was the most important thing in the universe.

The manager said he’d go fetch and relieve them from work. 

Matt and Sam met up with an overly excited Soreen, who only led them back to the house. Anytime they asked, she would just smile. She led them back through the front door. 

The paladins had moved deeper into the small house, and Soreen sent Matt and Sam inside to find them while she went back to find Setka.

-

Matt was really wondering what the hell was happening. He’d never seen Soreen show much emotion, so he was quite startled by the way she was acting. Even his father found it odd, but they went into the house anyway. 

There were a lot of people talking, and they could hear Kestrel loud and clear over all of the other voices. She sounded very excited and happy about something, though the translator was having trouble keeping up with her. When they rounded the corner, they froze. 

“Shiro?”

-

For Setka, working in a trading post’s infirmary was nothing compared to his previous work. If anything, he was glad for the dullness of it. He’d patch up small scrapes and paper cuts, with a few bigger injuries once in awhile. He was surprised when Soreen ran in and told him to get back home immediately. Confused but knowing this must be important, he rushed back to the house.

-

Both Shiro and Pidge froze; they would recognise that voice anywhere. 

“Matt? Samuel?” 

“Dad? Matt?”

“Takashi? Katherine?”

“Shiro? Katie?”

For a few moments they were all frozen, no one having completely processed what was happening. It was Pidge who moved first, running toward her brother and father and nearly tackling them. They were all on their knees after that, hugging tightly and crying. It was Sam who motioned for Shiro to join them. 

Setka came running in then, clearly having been running for awhile. He barely acknowledged the paladins and Allura and went straight for Keith, who’d shifted into a Splatyan at Kestrel’s recommendation. Setka gave his nephew a tight hug. Keith found it a little hard to breathe, but didn’t have the heart to tell his uncle to let go. 

“I’m glad you’re alright,” Setka said as he put him down. “Are you hurt anywhere?” 

Keith spent the next few minutes convincing Setka that he wasn’t hurt and that the paladins had treated him very well (he’d just finished doing so with Kestrel). Lance, Hunk and Allura had also jumped into the conversation, singing Keith’s praises, who was very much embarrassed and was praying for a change in subject. 

After quite a few minutes, Soreen, who had decided to hang out outside to give the families some space, came in. By that point, everyone had sat either on the single couch or on the floor. They were talking about everything that had happened in the past year and a half, catching up. They all left out a few things, but they talked quite a bit.

Soreen didn’t want to break up the mood, but she found that to be her job recently. “How about we continue this over dinner?” 

“That sounds amazing actually,” Hunk said, “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.”

“We don’t have enough food for everyone,” Kestrel said. 

“There’s that Splatyan restaurant we were invited to a while back,” Matt suggested.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Kestrel agreed.

After a quick run back at the castle to change and bring Coran along (making sure all securities were in place) hey met up with everyone at the restaurant. 

The food turned out to be amazing. It was a little like a korean bbq back on Earth. Granted, the sauces and the meats were different, but it was just as good.

Setka proudly introduced them to the owners, who had become friends with the family during the months they’d been here. 

 

During the supper, Setka asked how strong the communications link they had was. Coran gave him the exact power they had, and Setka smiled. 

“Should be strong enough to contact the rebellion safely,” Kestrel whispered. 

“Actually,” Setka whispered back, “it should be strong enough to contact Lyra, no matter where she is.”

Keith perked up, the paladins knowing that if he’d been galra then his ears would have shot straight up. 

“Who’s Lyra?” Lance asked, speaking loudly and giving everyone who knew about it a heart attack, motioning for him to lower his volume. 

“Not here,” Setka muttered, looking around, making sure no one had heard, “not now. When we’re back on your ship, I’ll explain.”

Allura nodded. “We will gladly welcome you in the castle,” she declared, albeit softly. “There is more than enough space for all of you. When can you join us?” 

Setka, Kestrel, Soreen, Matt and Sam exchanged glances. 

“By noon tomorrow,” Setka said. “We’ll joining you on your ship.”

Everyone agreed with that, then changed the subject to something else entirely. 

After supper, which turned out to be on the house, Setka, Matt, Sam, Kestrel and Soreen headed back to their house, promising to meet the next day. Neither Keith or Pidge wanted them to leave, but after quite a few reassuring hugs, they let them go. 

It was Lance who brightened up the mood afterward by putting his arms around both of their shoulders. “They said they’d be back tomorrow right?” he said. “Now let’s head back; we still have to finish that mario kart tournament.”

In the end, it was Coran who won the tournament, but only because Pidge and Keith were too distracted to play well. After another tournament, Pidge and Keith reclaimed their titles. After that second tournament, Shiro shooed everyone to sleep. Despite the fact that they were leaving at noon, they would still be doing their morning training. Their evening training, too. Just because they had visitors did not mean they could afford to get lax in their training. 

Neither Pidge or Keith got a lot of sleep that night. 

-

While the paladins had a tournament, the others tied up any loose ends they might have in the trading post. Kestrel finished repairing the pod she’d been fixing earlier, Kiral delivered the cargo they’d recovered, Setka passed on his patients to other doctors, while Matt, Sam and Soreen officially resigned from that store. 

They also emptied out the house, packing whatever meager belongings they had. They decided to spend their last night in the house, not wanting to bother the paladins at this hour of the night. 

The next morning, they quietly left the house, returning the key to its owner. They’d arrived in this place months ago, and they left it without any regrets. They were going home. 

Allura welcomed them on board, telling them to put their things down in what would be their rooms. They were in the same hallway as the paladins quarters, so they could stay close to their families. She then asked if they wanted to see the paladins during their morning training, which they definitely did. 

They had improved since last time the Tremk and Setka was proud. They’d gone so far since then. 

After another reunion, one where they knew they wouldn’t be separated for awhile, Setka started trying to communicate with Lyra. Coran and Allura had let him use their comm. 

Setka found the right channel, then got to work. “This is Setka Mrioak Siong, ID number 534218670, requesting permission for Lyra coordinates.”

There were exactly thirty three ticks of silence, then a high pitched noise for another three ticks. Then there was that same sound again, coming in and out, a little bit like morse code. When the transmission ended, Setka put the code into the ship, which then showed up a spot in the middle of nowhere. “That’s where Lyra is,” Setka simply said. 

“You never did explain who Lyra was,” Allura said. 

“Not who,” Keith answered, “but what. Lyra is the headquarters of the rebellion. It’s a ship that’s always on the move. If it had been on a planet, like other bases, we would have been found out a long time ago.”

“It’s so big that it dwarfs most other ships in the known universe, including Zarkon’s. It’s even bigger than some planets,” Kestrel added.

“How long until we get there?” Lance asked. 

“If we opened a wormhole, we could be there in a few hours,” Allura declared. 

“Lyra has a shield around it that stops wormholes from forming anywhere near it,” Setka said. “We can wormhole at...” he moved the star chart, then pointed to a spot that was a galaxy away from where Lyra currently was. “It’s far enough that they won’t point their guns toward us, but close enough that they’ll still see us coming.”

“We go there, then,” Allura said. “Prepare for a wormhole jump, everybody.”

-

Thace had woken up every morning for a year cursing the Galran justice system. Sure, it was effective in carrying out its laws when it came to commoners, but when it came to commanders, it another story altogether. 

After Palok’s arrest, the investigation on him had started, which had expected to last only a few days, but it revealed a lot more about the commander than most had believed. Of course, it was mostly rebellion info that revealed that, but it was never mentioned in reports that his actions had been made toward rebels, or that most of the information had come from the rebels in the first place. The most condemning thing he’d done, however, was to cause of the death of Keithak Thace Kogane.

Thace hadn’t risked contacting the rebellion, since he’d also been watched, but mostly in case he would act out of grief. He was a cherished lieutenant, and the empire didn’t want to lose him as well as his son. 

Emperor Zarkon himself had promised him a prolonged vacation once Palok’s trial came to a close, and today was that day. There was no doubt that he would be executed by day’s end. 

At day’s end, Thace would be allowed to leave central commander on an extended vacation. He couldn’t wait. 

He watched silently as Palok was sentenced to death for many crimes, including the murder of Keithak Thace Kogane. 

Thace left shortly after the sentence was given. The execution of a child murderer was neither swift nor painless. He went back to his quarters to pack his things, though he’d already done most of it. He didn’t think about how over a year ago, he’d helped his son pack his things so he could run away. 

He was nearly done when there was a knock at his door. “Come in,” he said. 

He wasn’t even surprised when none other than Zarkon himself walked in. He gave a curt bow, then kept packing. 

“Take all the time you need,” Zarkon said. “Mourn your child. I will ensure that he is remembered and that nothing like this will happen to another.” 

“It is much appreciated,” Thace replied. 

Zarkon picked up a picture of Thace, Roma and a very small Keithak. “Your cub could have one the empire’s greatest pilots. Your wife was a genius, an incredible talented druid. It is truly a shame to lose them both in such a short amount of time.”

Thace stayed silent, playing the role of the mourning father and husband, though by Galra standards, he’d long finished mourning his wife, who had died in an “accident” when Keith was only 10. “I should get going,” he said, “it’s a long trip to my parent’s.”

“Indeed,” Zarkon nodded, “I will not hold you then. Safe travels.” 

Zarkon accompanied Thace to the departure bay. The Koganes were one of the most loyal families to him, and it was such a shame to have their youngest and only heir be killed in such a way.

Thace took a shuttle to another departure bay, where he’d left his own ship. Taking it here rather than at central command was faster and safer. He knew his ship was already rebellion approved, so he just sent a message ahead along with his ID number so they knew he was coming. The Koganes were one of the most efficient rebellion contributors, since they were so close to Zarkon. 

-

The Castle of Lions was accosted by Lyran scout ships when they approached. It had cut short the evening training session, and everyone gathered in the command room. 

Setka did most of the talking, though Allura and Coran did talk as well. They were welcomed by Emera, one of Keith’s aunts. She hadn’t seemed to have seen him, probably since he’d still had his helmet on. They would be arriving in one of the hangars within the hour. 

The paladins quickly got ready, foregoing their paladin uniform. Over the year, Coran had made them some Voltron shirts, to wear in more casual environnements to still represent Voltron without being in the armour. Lance called it their diplomatic uniform, which was pretty accurate. 

The castle was placed within one of the massive hangars. Emera told them they were free to wander until evening, where she made Setka promise that she would bring the paladins over for a supper. He promised he would bring them.

She also told them that Roma didn’t know they were there. She knew the voltron team was there, but not Setka and Myrna. 

After passing through the airlock, they found themselves in the arrival bay. It could only be described as organised chaos. Ships came and went, depositing cargo and passengers. Some people were running to catch a ship, while other were running to catch a shuttle to another bay. 

Keith, Setka and Kestrel shifted back to Alteans as they led the others through. 

They were home. 

They were finally home.

-

Thace was finally back in Lyra, back home. He was glad to be back.

Now, he was just waiting for a shuttle that would take him to the primary habitat unit.

It would be another ten or so minutes until the next shuttle. He could sit on a hair and relax, but he didn’t want to lose his spot in line. He sighed, hoping Keith was here, safe and sound.

-

The paladins sat on the benches near the line, knowing they wouldn’t be sitting in the shuttle anyway. 

Keith casually looked over the people in line, then froze. There was no way that the Galra who was one of the first in line was… 

He got up and walked up to the Galra. He could feel the other’s eyes on him, but he ignored them. All he focused on at that moment was the Galra in front of the line, a hand casually holding his backpack, another holding a comm device.

He took a deep breath before walking ahead of the man, looking like he was just stretching his legs. When he turned around and there was then no doubt in his mind. That man was none other than Thace Kogane, his father. His heart dropped in anticipation. It took most of his strength for his knees to not give out from under him. 

He loved both of his parents, but he was always worried for his father, since he was in central command more often than not. 

-

Thace was texting his wife, telling him that he was home. She’d also just received a message from Emera that Setka and Kestrel were also on the way, so he kept an eye out for them in the arrival bay. He hadn’t known they’d been missing at all.

So far though, nothing. 

He looked up again, sweeping the area around him. He saw a group of a species he’d never seen before, until his eye got stuck on the one wearing black. That was undeniably the champion. How he’d ended up here, Thace had no idea. He saw that the man’s gaze, along with others of the group he was with, was fixed on something further out. He followed their gaze, then froze. 

That was his cub. That was his cub, looking at him like he’d seen a ghost. Thace realised that he was the ghost, though he was pretty sure there was the exact same look on his own face. 

He gave up his spot in line and ran for his son. He picked him up, Keith wrapping around him. He’d grown since last he’d seen him; he now almost reached his chin. He knew that in just a few more years, he would probably be taller than him. He put Keith down to take a good look at him. He was just so glad his cub was alive. He was so glad that he was still alive to see his cub. 

“I’m so glad to see you my dear cub,” he said. 

“Happy to see you too, dad,” his son’s voice was music to his ears. Keith bumped his head against his chest, and Thace nuzzled back. They were both purring, not caring about curious onlookers. 

The other paladins watched the reunion. Hunk cried, so happy to see his friend happy. He was tempted to join the hug, but knew that there was more meaning to that one than he could imagine.

That didn’t stop Setka and Kestrel from joining. A family hug, that’s what that was. 

The shuttle arrived then, breaking the hug apart. Everyone quickly gathered their things and hopped on. They didn’t talk much during the ride, not wanting other people to hear. Keith never stopped purring. Thace didn't either, though his purring was more quiet. A few minutes later, the shuttle arrived and everyone left, hurrying off to their destination. 

“So now what?” Hunk asked.

“We go home,” Keith said. “The house isn’t far.” 

“Wait,” Lance gasped, “does that mean we get to meet your family?”

“Yeah,” Keith said, having the exact same look on his face as his father’s. They both looked so excited to be here, to be home. 

The voltron crew looked around, seeing Lyra for the first time. They were then led by Setka and Kestrel to the main street, where they were supposed to meet with Emera. Keith and Thace walked a little behind the group, Thace listening to his cub’s adventures. He had definitely been busy in the past few months.

After having lunch in a small restaurant, they decided to head for the Siong house. The Voltron team wasn’t expected to meet with the rebellion’s officials until the next day, but Roma didn’t know that her own son was one of them.

It was decided that Keith and Thace would head back there first, and that the others would come later. There was something that Thace wanted to do before getting home, while Keith wanted to head there without waiting. He was hugged by the other paladins, who wished him luck. 

Thace hailed a taxi, gave Keith enough money to pay for it, then wished him luck as well. 

The Siong house was in what could be considered the rural area of Lyra. It was away from the city, but close to the shuttles that led to the main ship, the command center. It took about half an hour to get there. Every passing tick made his heart beat faster. He forced himself to calm down, knowing there was no reason for him to be nervous. Before he knew it, that ever familiar house appeared in front of him. He thanked and paid the driver, then stepped out, his heart going a thousand miles an hour. 

There was an altean man sitting on the rocking chair of the patio. The man, Keith’s granp, stood and smiled widely. He hurried down the ramp, meeting his grandson at its base. 

Keith hugged his granp, glad to see him as well. His granp then smiled again, pushing him inside. “Your mother is in the kitchen,” he whispered. “The candles are on the table.”

Keith smiled in response, then headed inside. 

There were three people in the main room; Myrna, Mishka and Kili. They were playing with sand, Myrna trying to stop Mishka from rolling in it. They hadn’t noticed him yet, too focused on their game. 

The kitchen was further in the house, so he had to walk past them to get to his mother, not that he minded. He knelt down and joined them. 

Mishka’s delighted scream took him by surprise. She jumped into his lap, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck. She was purring loudly. 

“Keef back, Keef back!” she said. 

“Keef back,” Keith replied, hugging her tightly and standing up so he could could make her “fly” like her big brother always did.

While Mishka laughed, Myrna picked up a confused Kili. She was fighting back tears. When Keith hugged her, she cried a little, but quickly dried them. 

“I’m so happy you’re alive,” she whispered. 

“Me too,” he whispered back, putting down a wriggling Mishka.

She grabbed his hand with a surprising amount of force for a five year old and led him further into the house, toward the kitchen. She was loudly calling for her mama, who left the kitchen to see what her youngest was crying about. 

She froze when she rounded the corner and saw Keith, who froze as well. The only one who didn’t pick up the shock was little Mishka, who was still pulling on her brother. 

There were tears in Romelle’s eyes as she saw the son she’d believed to be dead. She took the few steps that separated them and hugged him tightly. Keith’s knees gave out, and she held him as she fell as well. 

He was crying, holding onto her and refusing to let go. He shifted unconsciously, to look more like the person holding him. 

“I missed you so much mama, you have no idea,” he managed to say between sobs.

She stroked his hair and his back, shushing him, “it’s alright baby, it’s alright. You’re home now. Mama’s not going anywhere.”

They stayed there for awhile, until an impatient Mishka broke it up, asking to be part of the hug too. She was squished between them, not complaining about receiving this much attention. Eventually, Myrna walked by them with Kili in her arms, asking if they wanted warm drinks. Mishka came along, wanting to help her auntie. 

“We should probably go before the drinks get cold,” Romelle said, drying her cubs tears. 

“Yeah,” he agreed rubbing his eyes. 

The drinks were delicious. He’d missed the taste, he really had.

His father came in then, being assaulted by his over excited daughter. He made her fly as well, her laughter lighting up the whole house. 

“Keith,” Romelle asked, “what is that shirt you’re wearing?”

Keith smiled wide. “It’s what we’re calling the diplomatic uniform of the paladins of Voltron.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You’re a..?”

“Yeah.”

She sat down. “My son is a paladin of Voltron.”

“The red paladin, to be exact,” Thace said from where he was. 

“How long have you known?” she asked him. 

“Only a few more minutes than you have,” he replied. 

“Now Keith,” she said, turning toward her son, “this is the kind of thing that you tell me first.”

Keith laughed. “I was going to tell you, I swear.”

“By the way,” Thace said, “they’re outside right now.”

“They are?” both Keith and Romelle said. 

Thace nodded, “they came with me. They wanted to come with me.”

“What’s a pa-la-din?” Myrna asked from her father’s arms. 

“It’s the people who pilot the lions of Voltron,” Keith said. “I’m one of them.”

Myrna’s eyes went wide with wonder and amazement. 

“Like in the stories?” Mishka gasped. “What colour are you?”

“I’m the red paladin,” Keith answered. 

The look on her face was pure, unrestrained wonder. 

“I wanna meet them,” she muttered. She excitedly turned to her mother. “Mama can I go meet them?” She leapt out of her father’s arms and excitedly jumped up and down, tugging at her mother’s shirt. “Please Mama?”

“Of course you can sweetie,” Romelle said. She turned to her son, “Keith, since you know them, how about you let them in? I’ll get some tea ready and we can all sit down and talk.”

“Sounds good,” Keith nodded. Mishka stuck out her arms. While she could walk, she did enjoy being carried. Keith gave in; he’d liked being carried too until he’d gotten to big for it. 

Once he got outside though, she jumped out of his arms but grabbed his hand. 

He saw Lance’s eyes widen and then smile, along with everyone seemingly melting for Mishka. Keith wouldn’t deny that she had that effect on most people.She pulled him toward the others, very excited to meet new people.

Mishka let go of his hand and ran to Allura. She knelt down to her level and started a quiet conversation with her, though Keith could tell that Mishka was really excited about Allura’s hair. 

Keith, meanwhile, was surrounded by Lance and Hunk. “Who’s the kid?” Lance asked. 

“That’s Mishka and she’s my little sister,” Keith replied. 

“She’s adorable,” Hunk said.

Keith nodded in agreement. “Anyway,” Keith said, getting everyone’s attention, “let’s continue this inside.”

The paladins, along with Coran and Allura (who was carrying Mishka) headed into the house. 

Allura and Coran recognised the architecture of the building, which was a classic Altean type of living space. They could tell there was also galran influence in the design, but that was mostly in the interior decoration. That was probably explained by the elderly galra who was now walking toward them, who gave a tight hug to Keith. 

“I ran here when I heard that my son was back, but I wasn’t expecting my grandson here either!” the old woman said, smiling widely. 

“It’s good to see you too mamie,” Keith said. 

His mamie broke the hug just when his granpapa came into the room, giving his grandson a tight hug as well. Keith introduced his grandparents to the others. 

“Let’s go now,” his granpapa said, “the tea’s going to get cold.”  
There was space for everyone at the table, though Mishka insisted on sitting on her granpapa’s knees. Kestel sat next to Myrna, both so glad their twin. Kili babbled, recognising his sister and his father. Kiral also sat down next to Myrna after giving her a tight hug.

“It’s with great honour that I, Romelle Isreve Siong welcome the paladins of Voltrons into the Siong home,” Romelle said as she served tea. “May I have all of your names?”

It was Shiro who introduced himself first. “I’m the black paladin; Takashi Shirogane, but please, call me Shiro.”

“I’m Hunk Garett, the yellow paladin.”

“Lance Mcclain, blue paladin.”

“Pidge Gunderson-Holt, green paladin.”

“Keithak Kogane-Siong, red paladin,” Keith added, though he really didn’t need to.

“I am princess Allura of Altea, the leader of this group.”

“I am Coran, royal advisor and trainer of the paladins.”

None of the Siongs were surprised by Allura’s statement, having recognised her the moment she’d walked through the door. 

Once everyone had their tea, there was a conversation between the paladins, Allura and Romelle. They agreed to an alliance between the rebellion and Voltron. Should one be in need, the other would come. While there was some paperwork that was to be filed later, the need for an official reunion with other leaders was simply a formality, since it was always Romelle who had the last word when it came to alliances. 

Romelle also welcomed Matt, Sam and Soreen. Over tea, she and Soreen talked about the nanobots project she’d perfected, though Kiral insisted they change the subject, which they gladly did. 

The subject Romelle changed to, however, was not one either they or Myrna had expected. 

 

“Are you two still going to get married?” 

Silence fell at the table, all eyes now on the couple. 

“They’ve just learnt that the other is alive,” Mamie said, “can’t you let them have that Roma?” though her words could be taken harshly, there was a joking tone to it. 

“It’s alright mamie,” Myrna laughed. “We were talking about it, but we have a lot of talking to do before we can talk about a wedding again.” Kiral nodded in agreement, their hand entwined with Myrna’s. 

All of the visitors of the Siong household were given rooms to stay in. They could come and go as they pleased, though they simply had to call ahead if they decided to eat somewhere else or in the house, so there would be enough food at the table (though Keith added that extra food was always prepared anyway). 

Romelle then excused herself, having work to do. She asked if Allura would like to come along, to meet with other leaders. She accepted, Coran also wanting to come along. Soreen also came along as well, having things to report about her research. 

Keith’s grandparents immediately wanted to know everything that had happened over the past year and a half. Keith and the other paladins gladly told them their adventures. Myrna and Kiral went to the living room, speaking quietly between themselves. 

Kiral told her about what they’d been through.They didn’t remember much about the experiments, and they hadn’t asked Soreen about too many details. They did mention that it was Soreen who had conducted the experiments, and at that moment Myrna truly looked ready to murder the woman. Kiral assured her that it was alright. 

“Please don’t kill anyone on my behalf,” they said.

“You told me that when we started courting,” Myrna smiled. “What do you want to do?” she asked after a beat of silence.

“I think we should take things slowly. I still need time to recover after what happened.”

“I understand. If you ever need to talk, if you ever need a shoulder to lean on, I'm right here, okay? 

“I know, and thank you.”

They sat in content silence until Mishka, followed by a wobbling Kili, wandered to the living room in search of playmates. 

-

As the day carried on, other Siongs came home from work, all of them so glad that Kestrel, Setka, Kiral and Keith were alive and well.

The only one who was unaccounted for, the only one who had actually died, was Seiran. The only candle that was still lit was a pink one. Pink for her markings.

Over the next few weeks, Voltron and the rebellion worked hand in hand to help people in distress. While the paladins mostly stayed in the Castle of Lions as they had before, they still went to Lyra from time to time. Keith was always in contact with his parents and family. Mishka had even visited a few times, wanting to know what the castle she’d heard about in all those stories really looked like.

If they had to go on the ground, Kiral, with their newfound abilities, would join them. On operations on a bigger scale, one or more squads of the rebellion would accompany them. 

Slowly but surely, Kiral came to terms with what their body had become. 

Slowly but surely, Myrna and Kiral rebuilt their relationship.

Slowly but surely, Kestrel’s scars from her time in the mines healed. She still woke in the dead of night to other’s screams, but she knew she wasn’t alone. 

Slowly but surely, Setka became more like his old self, though and everyone else knew that it would never quite be the same. 

Slowly but surely, Setka, Kestrel and Myrna recovered from the loss of Seiran. 

Slowly but surely, another operation was set in motion. Every squad and soldier in the rebellion was to participate or to hang back,ready to jump in as reinforcements. Every leader and councilperson was called on, every spy, every bit of information they had was assembled for this operation. In a month or so, they would be ready.

Thace and Keith had played a big role in mapping out the place they were attacking since they’d lived there for years. Thace also contacted his other contacts that were still in central command, to make sure things were alright on their end.

As the date of the attack approached, the atmosphere on Lyra, as well as on all of the other rebellion bases, was nervous. 

As the ships that were departing for the place they were attacking, for central command, family members said goodbye to the soldiers, lovers embraced, children hugged their parents. 

Kiral and Myrna were in one of the hangars, both in their gear and ready to depart. They were only in the hangar to say goodbye to some friends, since they would make the trip on the Castle of Lions along with the paladins and what was called the vanguard.

It was as the announcement for final boarding was given that they headed for the ship, seeing Keith heading for the castle in the corner of their eyes.

They started heading for it as well, walking quickly. Kiral held out their hand, and Myrna took it.

“Myrna?”

“What is it Kiral?”

“If we survive this battle, will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used my native language for the names that kids give to their galran grandparents, if anyones curious. I might also do a sketch of what Lyra looks like and link it either in the notes of this chapter or at the beggining of the next.
> 
> My semester is starting monday, so i dont know when ill be able to give you guys chapters 19 and 20, but ill make sure it doesnt too long. Until next time.
> 
> Next time, Zarkon.
> 
> Next time, the cycle of fear will either continue or end.


	19. Zarkon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay! Colllege is kicking my ass.

Thace had returned to central command a few weeks before the planned attack. He would give the all-clear; that the attack was good to go. 

He’d returned strong, not showing any weakness. After a certain amount of time, it became frowned upon to keep mourning a loss. The loss of a child was the one with the longest period. It was the Galra way. It was the Zarkon way.

He didn’t allow himself to think too much about the incoming attack, only to make sure that civilians would be safely evacuated when the time came. He had already informed others in central command- they would take care of that. Thace would stay until the very last moment. He would take down central’s command defences, keep the rebellion’s escape route open should they need it. No one hoped that they would need it, because then he would be left alone on the ship. Certain death, or a fate worse than death awaited him if the rebellion retreated. He was ready to do that. He’d said his goodbyes to both of his cubs. Mishka was young enough that she wouldn’t remember him much as she grew older. Keith, however… He would bounce back, Thace knew it. He wouldn’t let his father’s sacrifice be in vain. If anything, it would make Keith even more motivated. He laughed bitterly at the irony of that. 

He’d sent out the message- everything was in place and good to go. In just a few hours, the rebellion would be at their doorstep.

At Zarkon’s doorstep. 

He could imagine his wife giving out a speech right about now- giving out a speech that might very well go down in history and form the new universe; or maybe it would be remembered by prisoners decades from now, as the speech that had given them hope before it had all come crashing down. 

-

Romelle had once been nervous about speeches like this. She hadn’t been nervous at all in years, but today, she was mortified. The person who had built Lyra, her ancestor from ten thousand years ago, had once said; “a good speech can win a battle; a bad one can lose it.”

Those words had echoed through the generations of leaders of the rebellion. She opened her comm, knowing that every soldier in the rebellion was listening.

“Ten thousand years ago when Altea fell, the survivors of the attack escaped on Lyra. They could have chosen to hide and cower, but instead, they stood and fought. Today, we honour their legacy by picking up the fight where my ancestors left it. We go to Zarkon and take the fight directly to him. We fight for our children, for our children's children, so that they may know a world of peace. Today, we bring an end to this ten thousand year old war. Today is the dawn of a new universe. Today, with the help of the paladins of Voltron, we take down Zarkon!”

She could hear the cheers and war cries not just of the people gathered in front of her, but also of all of the people on all of the other ships headed to central command. 

After the speech, she and Allura opened up the wormholes. They were going to a spot near central command that had been hidden by a gravitational barrier. There they would stay hidden until Thace confirmed that the shields were down. 

-

Thace made his way the control room of the defences around central command. He only had a few minutes to disable the rings and to make sure no one would be able to put them back online. The droids that were in there were easy to take down. Since the shields weren’t up, no one noticed when they were disabled. The guns were a little more tricky, since there were soldiers in that area, but he’d specifically picked this moment to do it since this was when the guards rotated and when there would be the least of them in there.

-

Lyra received Thace’s all clear just as someone else on the inside shut off central command’s power system. 

The lions appeared out of seemingly nowhere, forming Voltron immediately. Other ships followed, giving them cover fire. 

The rebellion stayed far from the evac pods, who were carrying away civilians, so far as to make sure no galra ships shot them down. There were very few manned ships in the galra empire’s fleet though, so there wasn’t much of a fight as of yet. 

Voltron had been given three spots to take down that would stop central command from deploying ships from most of its hangars, along with completely taking out the engines. It would take at least a few hours for the power to come back completely. So far, there was no sign of Zarkon. 

That was what they thought, at least. It was Keith who felt the first tug, then Shiro. Hunk was the third.

“Am I the only one feeling that?” he said, panicked. 

“We have to disband Voltron!” Keith said, “Now!”

“Agreed!” Shiro declared.

They split Voltron.

“What was that?” Lance asked, just now feeling what had been the tug.

“That was Zarkon,” Keith said. “He was trying to tear us apart.”

“This why I wanted you all to make sure your bond with your lions was strong,” Allura said. “Zarkon had broken up Voltron ten thousand years ago.”

“Our bond is stronger than Zarkon’s ever was, he can’t break us apart!” Shiro declared. “We make our last stand together.”

They fought. The Kromar was the only thing that could fire with the systems down. It was being powered by Haggar herself, which was terrifying in it of itself. It could suck the quintessence out of anything it hit, so it was essential that they dodge it. 

Central command’s back up power generators came on and fighter jets started pouring out. Rebel reinforcements joined the paladins and vanguard, who was now starting to board central command. The paladins and the reinforcements gave them cover.

“Uh, guys?” Hunk said. “What is that?”

“What is what?” Pidge asked before seeing what he was talking about.

“It’s Zarkon,” Keith replied, throat dry.

-

Kiral had a decent idea of where they were going. Thace had given them a map of where to go to take down the power generators. The droids weren’t even close to being a problem. For the first time in awhile, they were thankful for the augmentations they received. They quickly arrived at the power generator. There was a druid there. Kiral didn’t even think of hesitating. The druid was dead before they knew Kiral was there. 

With the guidance of people on Lyra, they permanently disabled the generators. They then headed over to the main power engines, where Thace still was. They didn’t dare comm Thace since they had no doubt people were listening to any and all rebel communication. 

There was a massive group of druids in front of the entrance to it. Thinking quickly, Kiral spread out splati and hid in it, heading for the druids. They snuck between the druids, making their way to Thace. Only one druid noticed them, shooting the splati, but they got out of the way, jumping out of the splati and taking a stab at that druid. They realised that they were attacking the head druid, but at least they landed a hit. 

The head druid screeched and stepped back, other druids stepping up to protect their leader. “Lock them in!” she screamed, “they can’t make the engine malfunction again! We’ll take care of the traitor once everything is done!”

The druids turned to the ceiling, which they then shot at and it came crumbling down. Thace dragged Kiral back, stopping them from being crushed by the debris. 

“Now what?” they muttered once the dust settled.

-

The robot that had emerged from Central Command’s main hangar look very much like a Voltron lion, if a lion were made to Zarkon’s image. 

“He wasn’t messing around when getting ready for us,” Lance muttered. 

“He was building that long before Voltron came back, I think,” Keith added. “I’d heard rumours about a huge ship being built in the main factory.”

“We can still fight, everyone,” Shiro declared, “we have something he doesn’t have.”

“Friendship?” Lance, Pidge and Hunk asked at the same time. 

“Well, we do have friendship,” Shiro sighed, “but we have better. We have Voltron.”

“Form Voltron!” Allura declared. 

They all had the same thought, the same goal. 

Take down Zarkon.

-

Anyone who witnessed the fight between Voltron and Zarkon was speechless and would later describe it as the bravest (and/or the stupidest) thing they’d ever seen anyone do. The battle came to a standstill everywhere else, everyone, galra and rebellion, watching. The entire universe, watching. 

Every upgrade their bayards produced was used. It was without a doubt the hardest battle they’d ever had, and probably would be the hardest they ever would be a part of.

They didn’t struggle with their bond like they had earlier. Zarkon couldn’t separate them. They were one.

Voltron’s shield was starting to give way, but Pidge was diverting as much energy into it as she could into it. Keith was doing the same with the sword. Hunk focused his cannon on Zarkon’s ship. 

They could do this. 

-

“Are you hurt?” Thace asked Kiral.

“I’m fine.” They looked around, confirming that the only exit was now out of order. 

“You had splati spread out, didn’t you,” Thace said calmly as he walked to the controls. 

“I did, but even if I managed to get to the other side, there’s no way I’d be able to move all of that crumpled metal.”

“But you could be able to get to the other side,” he insisted. 

“There’s no guarantee if I could, but if it hasn’t been obstructed I might be able to, yeah. Why?”

Thace turned around and looked Kiral in the eyes. “I want you to be as far away from here as possible when the engine blows.”

-

While Voltron was busy fighting Zarkon, Allura and Romelle, along with members of the Blade of Marmora, raided the kromar. They found Haggar and other druids there. 

Allura went straight for Haggar, staying hyperaware of her surroundings. Haggar shot energy beams while Allura dodged and closed in for a hit whenever she could. Glancing over, she could tell that even the blades were having issues. It was no use taking down Zarkon if Haggar stayed alive. She had to be taken down with him. 

-

“You’re going to blow the engines?” Kiral exclaimed. “Are you insane?”

“I’m doing what’s necessary for the end of this war. The destruction of central command is one of those.” Thace replied, his voice calm and stern. 

He turned around, a soft smile on his face. “Do tell Romelle and the children that I am sorry. Tell Keith I will forever be proud of him.”

Kiral gave him a solemn nod, which Thace mirrored. “I will.”

They dove in the splati, which while it was now spread out among the rocks, they could still travel through. They ran back through central command, heading back to an area called “Kromar” where from what they could tell, there was a battle going on. 

They ended up high above where they were battling. They recognised Allura and Romelle, along with some members of the blade of Marmora. One of them was collapsed and likely dead, while Allura was fighting who looked to be the high Druid. It didn’t seem to be going that well. They had to help. 

-

The paladins were actually doing a pretty good job fighting against Zarkon. Voltron’s shield, while having taken heavy damage, was still operational. Their sword clashed with Zarkon’s. 

“You think you can stop me?” Zarkon mocked them. “You think you can stop me without Voltron’s full power?”

“We will!” they declared as one. “You’re going down!”

-

Kiral gathered their courage and jumped down, drawing their blade. They managed to kill one of the druids that one of the blades had been struggling to fight. The blade gave what could be a grateful nod, then turned their attention to Allura and Romelle, who were fighting Haggar. They jumped in to help. 

Romelle gave them a questioning look. “Weren’t you supposed to be with Thace?”

There was an explosion that shook the ground. 

“He told me to get out,” was all they could reply. 

Romelle didn’t allow herself to mourn and fought on. 

Allura slashed at Haggar once again, managing to knock her hood back. She was Altean. All three women froze before quickly snapping out of it. 

Haggar moved to warp away, but Kiral ran to her to stop from doing so. Faster than should have been possible, she shot out her hand and fired a beam right at their chest. 

-

A huge beam of light exploded out of the kromar and destroyed a portion of the rings circling command. 

“Allura!” Shiro called out. “Are you alright? Allura!”

The only sound that answered was static and Zarkon’s mocking laugh. 

Voltron’s cannon fired.

It hit Zarkon’s mock Voltron lion right in the cockpit. 

-

Haggar coughed. No one in the kromar dared move as Kiral’s blade pierced her chest. They were holding on to her wrist, that they’d managed to move out of the way at the last second. 

Kiral let go, and Haggar collapsed in a pool of her own blood.

They were all silent for a moment. 

It was Allura who broke the silence. 

“It’s over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter will up on saturday.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	20. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it. Whether you started reading yesterday or since this all started, I'm forever grateful for your support. 
> 
> I'd like to take a moment to thank my friends Chloe (averageghost on here), Isabel (rubypaladin on here) and Nikol, who dealt with me shooting ideas off of them and beta-ing the chapters for me. Also special thanks to a special miss who knows who she is who's one of the biggest reasons I write to begin with. 
> 
> There's a strong chance I'll come back to this story one day, either with a continuation or with scenes that happened over the one year fighting Zarkon that I never got around to write. If that happens, the cycle of fear will become a series and the other scenes will be chapters to another story so you won't have to search for them in the chapters.
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading, I appreciate it more than words can say.
> 
> Enjoy!

The battle had been over after Voltron had delivered the final blow to Zarkon. Most soldiers still remaining in central command surrendered, those who didn’t were either arrested or joined their leader in the afterlife. 

Slowly but surely, the rebellion broke Zarkon’s embrace over the universe. After three months, everything died down to the point that battle was no longer necessary. 

The main subject of conversation at the moment was the creation of a universe-wide alliance between those that once been under the empire’s influence. The alliance even spread out to parts that the empire had never made its way to, like Earth. When that subject came up, the paladins of Voltron were the ones who would take care of that, along with Keith. 

“Wait,” he said, “why am I going to be an ambassador? I don’t anything about politics! Even less human politics!”

“Even we don’t understand our own politics, not to mention the fact that there’s about 200 different governments on Earth,” Shiro added. 

Silence fell over the debate table. Then everyone started talking at once on how to approach this odd planet. 

It was decided that the paladins would come to the planet with one of the lions, along with an ambassador. From there, it would be come and go between the rebellion and Earth. Hopefully, everything would go well. 

In the end, it was Allura and Shiro who went. Shiro had been a hero, even back on Earth, so his appearance, though he was believed dead, would have quite an effect. After a month, Earth was part of the alliance and members of the alliance were welcome on Earth. The paladins would be going home soon. They’d been communicating with their families for the first time in years. 

There were, however, other preparations being made. 

“Keith, you’ll be Kiral’s best man, right?” Kestrel asked. 

“I will be,” he nodded. 

“We have the venue, the seating arrangements,” Myrna muttered, going over the list the fifth time that evening. “We’re just missing an officiant and we’re running out of time to find one.”

“I’ll do it,” Thace said from his place on the couch. “I’ve married some people on Central Command, I’m sure I could do it properly according to Altean and Splatyan traditions.”

“Really?” Myrna exclaimed. “Thace, that would be amazing!” 

“Hopefully your fur will have grown back by then,” Keith added. 

“I hope so as well,” Thace sighed. While he’d made it out of the engine’s explosion alive, a good portion of his fur had been burnt and shaved so it could grow back properly. 

Everything was ready. Two weeks from now, Kiral and Myrna would be married. 

-

The paladins had been staying with the Siongs. Lyra had been making its way to Earth, where they would be reunited with their families. They were all excited, but the main excitement in the air was the wedding. Lance had been knitting together sashes for everybody that showed off Voltron’s colours. At Mishka’s request, he also made one for her. 

“We’re going to have to keep in contact,” Pidge said, not looking away from her laptop. “I don’t want us to drift apart.”

“I don’t want us to either,” Hunk agreed, “but we’re going to be galaxies apart.” He glanced at Keith, who had decided to stay on Lyra with his family. 

“The lions can open wormholes,” Keith said, “we can visit each other anytime.”

“That’s true,” Shiro nodded. “We’ll stay in contact.”

The wedding was in two days. 

The paladins would return to Earth in three days. 

-

“Keith I look alright, right?” a very nervous Kiral asked their best man as they looked over themselves in the mirror for the thousandth time in the past hour. 

“You look stunning, Kiral,” Keith assured him. 

It wasn’t a lie; Kiral truly did look stunning. They were wearing the traditional Splatyan garb for weddings, though it had been modified slightly. It was a stylish mixture of the men and women’s traditional wedding clothing and it was beautiful. The blues and golds of the layers matched beautifully with their hair and eyes. Keith wasn’t one for fashion, damn did Kiral look good. 

“Is it weird I’m more nervous about my wedding day than I was in the battle against Zarkon?” they asked again, looking back at Keith after having once again arranged their layers. 

“Probably not,” Keith replied, “mom and dad were really nervous about getting married too.”

Setka came through the door then, interrupting their conversation. “You look amazing Kiral. Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” they nodded.

Setka nodded back. “Ten more minutes and we’re walking, I’ll see you then.”

Setka left and Kiral and proceeded to freak out. “I’m going to be married in a little more than 10 minutes,” there were tears in their eyes.

“Come on now,” Keith rubbed their back, “you're not supposed to cry until you walk.”

“I know!” they wiped away a tear. “Hold it together Kiral.”

Soon enough, Soreen came in and it was time to walk.

-

“Kestrel, how do I look?” a very nervous Myrna asked her twin. 

“For the hundredth time, you look amazing,” Kestrel replied. 

And she truly did. Myrna’s long, pink hair had been braided back the old Altean way and only a couple of strands fell to frame her face. She wore a small tiara that had been passed down the Siong family since long before Altea fell. Her dress was decorated with delicate, flower-like lace. It was pink at the bodice, but in the skirt it faded to purple and blue. It looked like a sunrise. 

“I can’t believe this is actually happening,” Myrna muttered, once again twirling in front of the mirror, appreciating the movements of all the layers of her skirt.

“I know,” Kestrel replied, glancing at the clock. “It’s going to be time soon.”

Myrna’s heart sped up, now more nervous than she’d ever been in her life. However, she decided it was a good kind of nervous. 

Setka came in then, crying when he saw just how beautiful his daughter was. “Seiran would be so, so proud of you,” his own pride evident in his voice.

“I know she would,” Myrna quickly wiped away her own tears. Though she’d made sure to waterproof her makeup, she didn’t want to have to do any touch ups this close to walking time.

Setka offered his daughter his arm. “It’s time.”

-

Kestrel walked in front of her sister, essentially hiding from Kiral’s sight, Soreen did the same for Kiral. Once they reached the center, they stepped to the side so the soon to be married couple could see each other.

The music came to a crescendo as the couple reached the center and as Keith and Setka handed the couple over to each other.

Thace called for silence as the music stopped and as Kiral and Myrna stood across from each other, holding hands. Thace put his hand on top of theirs and started reciting the prayers. 

Setka and Kestrel stepped forward with the necklaces. With great care, Kiral and Myrna put them around each other's necks. When that was done, they leaned their foreheads together. 

“By the powers invested in me,” Thace declared, “you are now married.”

The crowd cheered and clapped as the couple kissed, sealing their union. 

Setka tightly hugged Keith, the father doing nothing to hide his tears of joy. In fact, nearly everyone was either openly crying or subtly drying their eyes. The music kicked back in then, calling for the first dance. Kiral and Myrna opened the dance with a slow start, though it quickly became a faster dance. Everyone eventually hopped onto the dance floor, having fun.

Keith danced mostly with the other paladins, though he did make sure to dance with both Kiral and Myrna. Little Mishka also danced with him, though she insisted she be in his arms when she was his partner. She had an adorable puffy pink dress with the same multi-coloured sash that the paladins were wearing. Keith enjoyed watching the paladins messing up the steps to dances he’d learnt when he was a child at weddings just like these, he was pretty sure even Mishka was better than they were, and she was just 5 years old. 

Dinner was served and everyone sat at their designated seats. The paladins were with the families of the couple. The food was a mixture of both traditional Altean and Splatyan meals. 

After dinner, the dancing and partying continued. 

As the night continued, the crowd dwindled until everyone was gone. 

-

Early the next morning, Lyra arrived in sight of Earth. The paladins, Allura, Coran, Sam and Matt met up in the hangar. 

It was time for them to say goodbye. None of them wanted to, but they had promised to keep in touch. 

“I have something for all of you,” Keith said, pulling six boxes out of his pockets. 

“You didn’t have to get us anything,” Shiro despaired as Keith handed out the boxes. 

They opened the boxes at the same time, each receiving the same thing. It was a small rectangular piece of metal from which a holographic screen popped out.

“I worked really hard to have them translated so you could use them,” Keith explained. “We’ll be able to keep in contact and they’ll be no communication delay at all.”

“That’s what that code was for!” Pidge exclaimed, who had, indeed, worked on a code to translate Altean into English. 

“One of the reasons, yeah,” Keith nodded. 

Their comms, as they quickly named them, each had a small lion shaped keychain, except for Allura and Coran, who’s keychains were the castleship and a giant weblum, respectively. 

After another round of hugs, it was time for the humans to go. 

None of them would deny crying. 

-

Pidge, Sam and Matt landed the green lion in their front yard. Coleen (and multiple neighbours) ran out of the house to see what was happening. 

Coleen’s arms weren’t big enough to give the hug she wanted to give to her family. She’d been alone for nearly two years, believing them to be dead, yet here they were. Alive.

They never wanted to be separated again. 

-

Hunk returned to his hometown, where the only place big enough to land Yellow was the plaza. He’d sent a message ahead so the people would know to keep away from it. He cried when he saw everyone waiting for him. His mothers and older sister were the first to run up to him. 

“Welcome home,” they said as one. 

-

Shiro landed Black in the small woods behind the apartment complex his mother lived in. 

He quickly made his way to the sixth floor. He wasn’t surprised to see the door unlocked. He walked in, leaving his shoes at the entrance and putting his slippers. He wasn’t surprised to see that they hadn’t moved. 

His mother stood from her place on the couch and looked up to him. 

“I am glad to see you home, Takashi,” she said solemnly. “Though it would have been nice to have been told you were alive before I learnt it on television.”

“I’m sorry mother, I would have told you if I could have,” he apologised.

“No need to say sorry,” she shook her head. “I am just glad you are alive.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “Welcome home.”

“I’m glad to be home.” He hugged her tightly.

“Now tell me, what have you been doing these past three years? Have you been stressing too much? Why has your hair gone white?”

“How about I explain everything over a cup of tea?”

“That sounds wonderful.”

-

Lance landed in the backyard of his family home. All of his younger siblings welcomed him with excited screams. They dragged him inside the house, where he found a buffet waiting for him. He cried. He’d missed this. He’d missed his family so much. 

“I missed you all so much,” he managed to say between sobs.

His mother hugged him, something he’d been missing since he started at the garrison. “We missed you too. There is no need to cry now, you’re home.”

“I’m home,” he replied. 

-

5 years later

The celebration of the foundation of the after Zarkon alliance (not the official name) happened on Lyra. Diplomats and civilians from all over the universe were invited, with the paladins of Voltron being guests of honour. 

The celebration started with an over dramatic introduction of the rebellion leaders and of the Voltron paladins. Coran was the one to do the announcements. 

“I would like to present to you all the legs of Voltron, Lance Mcclain, blue paladin and Hunk Garret, yellow paladin.” 

Hunk and Lance went down the stairs hand in hand, then stopped on the stage, standing apart.

“Next up is the arms of Voltron, Keithak Kogane-Siong, red paladin and Katie Pidge Holt, green paladin.”

Keith and Pidge (who was called Katie by those who weren’t the paladins, Allura or Coran) walked down the stairs hand in hand. They separated once on the stage, Pidge next to Hunk, Keith next to Lance. 

“Last but not least, Takashi Shirogane, head of Voltron and Princess Allura, leader of the paladins.”

Shiro and Allura went down the stairs, the crowd silencing as Allura came into view. Most had only ever heard tales of her beauty. No one but the paladins noticed that Allura and Shiro held hands much longer than necessary. Shiro placed himself between Keith and Pidge while Allura went to take Coran’s place at the at the podium.

She gave a long speech about the war and reconstruction efforts. Keith zoned out in the middle of it, having heard it ten times in the past two days alone. He’d been Allura’s test subject to her practices as she wrote it. He could tell that the audience was really into it though. 

After speeches from countless diplomats, the celebration itself began. The paladins, Allura and Coran stayed together for awhile, being asked for pictures by countless news agencies.

When that was done, they still stuck together. Kiral came to find them, dragging Myrna along. She was carrying a small bundle, a small child. Myrna gladly handed her over to Allura, whose eyes were glistening with tears at the small pink marks below the baby’s eyes. The Altean race was surviving. 

“We’re still not quite sure on the name,” Kiral declared, “ but Seiran is a strong runner-up.”

“After your mother?” Allura replied, looking at Myrna.

She nodded. “It only seems right. She’s the reason Kili and I survived the Larg’an attack.”

“If you decide on that name, you have my blessing on it, or any other name you might choose.”

Myrna’s eyes went wide, then a soft smile appeared on her face. “No Altean name has been blessed by royalty in ten thousand years, so that’s quite an honour.”

Allura smiled back. “Seiran is a lovely name for such a lovely child. Though it is up to you.”

“We were pretty certain on Seiran,” Kiral added, “but I think you just made that official.”

Allura smiled. 

Kiral and Myrna were whisked away by someone else. Allura turned, seeing that the paladins had also been lost in the crowd. She looked for them, finding Shiro talking with Pidge’s mother. They were talking about the organisation called the “Garrison” which had covered up the Kerberos kidnappings and had said that the paladins had died in a training accident. The return of the paladins to Earth had forced the organisation to reveal their cover-up and had ceased all operations after heavy compensation to the paladins and their families. 

Shiro had been working alongside Sam to make their own piloting school that would train the new generation of pilots. Shiro had also spent a lot of times on the castleship helping Allura, though at his mother’s quiet request, he visited Earth at least once a month. 

She left them, running into one of Hunk’s mothers. Though they’d met before, this was the first time they were alone conversing. Tamara was a very... interesting woman. Allura could definitely see where Hunk got his personality. She insisted that Allura taste some of the food, which had been prepared according to Hunk’s recipes. She’d heard that Hunk had opened a restaurant, but hadn’t had a chance to go to it yet, though she would be going the next day with the other paladins. 

Tamara eventually shooed Allura away, saying she likely had other places to be. She didn’t. She saw Pidge on the crowd, talking with others, likely about her current advancements in technology. Passing near her, she confirmed that. 

Passing by the dance floor, she saw Keith and Lance dancing with Mishka and Kili between them. Kili was standing on Keith’s feet, while Mishka was showing Lance the steps. She saw Setka and Kestrel sweep the children away, leaving Keith and Lance alone. The two awkwardly moved closer and continued to dance. She’d noticed the closeness between the two and it was nice to see it develop into something, even if it were to stay friendship or evolve into something more. She wasn’t surprised to see Hunk join them either, and eventually Pidge. She was so glad to see the paladins be so close together so long after the official disbanding of Voltron. 

“It’s so nice seeing them have fun like this,” a woman said. 

Allura looked over, and recognised her as Lara, Lance’s mother. “It truly is,” she agreed.

“It’s nice seeing them be children,” Lara said. “That’s what they are, after all.”

Allura nodded. “It’s a shame they spent a part of it fighting a war.” 

“It certainly is,” Lara sighed, “but I believe that even then, they still had a childhood. You made sure of that.”

Allura thought of the times the paladins had played games in the training room or with Pidge’s console, or of all the times they’d landed on a planet simply for a day off or for exploration. “I did my best.”

Lara looked over Allura, then stopped her gaze at the small, golden ring around her left index finger. She also saw the way Allura looked at Shiro, who had joined the other paladins on the dance floor. She smiled knowingly. 

“You should join them,” Lara simply said. 

“I should.” 

And she did. 

As the paladins danced together to the tune of an old Altean song, they couldn't help but look to the future.

A future that shone brightly.


End file.
